JUDGE PATAKI’S STIMULUS THRESHOLD

András Bencsik, editor-in-chief of the weekly Magyar Demokrata claims his magazine and his person have been judged recently in a way that makes clear the jurisdiction employs a double standard in ruling.

A suit has been filed by the Hungarian News Agency (MTI) against Magyar Demokrata because of an open letter by István Lovas who allegedly made false statements about the state-owned agency when he claimed MTI had falsified facts favouring pro-Israeli standpoints. The court has declared this opinion as a false representation of facts and has fined the magazine. In another case András Bencsik has requested the resolution of the court about an article in the weekly 168 óra where a reader’s letter claimed a racist pop group appeared in the programme organized by Demokrata though this was not true. ’Though 168 óra published an untruth, this fact did not reach Judge Pataki’s stimulus threshold’, András Bencsik said.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó