1987. június (74-86. szám) / HU_BFL_XIV_47_2
^mmníjímam MSI 24/0 littU Rv»*«« Street, LONDONI, WC.i ■ Ttl. 04-4*0 *4 14 ■ G Uráné 85/1987/E/ 29th June, 1987 Amendment of Law Has G-iven G-reater Jurisdiction to the Investigating Authorities On the 25th of June, parliament dehated the motion of amendment to the criminal jurisprudence hill, On the same day, the new head of state, a protegé of the party was installed in Office. The new prime minister and his deputy alsó took Office on this day, and memhers of parliament listened to the minister • of finance's appropriation account and the speech by the chairman of the office fór Environwcntal and hatural Preservation. With such a crowded agenda the bili of amendments to criminal jurisdiction naturally failed to récéivé a debate lengthy and exhaustive enough to do justice to its significance. Only two members spoke and their suggestions were overruled out of hand by a hastily set-up session of a commission of legal, administrative and judicial experts. Nevertheless, 12 members voted against the motion and 32 abstained. The new law modifies the criminal code and criminal pro- cedure in many respects, bút most importantly it concems the regulations of criminal investigation. It is hardly a coincidence that Saturday night Budapest rádió broadcast an interview with Dr. Sándor Nyiri, deputy of the Chief Public Prosecutor. He said, that fór historic reasons the Hungárián people are sensitive to changes in the criminal procedure and always look fór guarantee. True! However, it is questionable whether the present rectifica- tion will serve to control or to let loose criminal investigation? Up untili now, in accordance with the 1973 no. 1 criminal investigations Act, investigations had to be concluded within one month. Extension of this period needed permission from the prosecutor and if extending 3 months, from the Chief Prosecutor’s office. This may nőt have been a very matériái guarantee,fór the prosecutor’s office generally readily complied with the investi- gators' wishes. The deputy of the Chief Prosecutor himself said that this system only resulted in a tiresome and unnecessary bureaucratic rigmarole. Now this feebly exercised guarantee has been abolished: in an unprecedented manner, criminal investigation can continue fór six months in the case of misdemeanour and fór a year in the case of a criminal act without any judicial permission . The new head of state took office without the usual intro- ductory address on his policy. The fact that the bili was rushpd through parliament on the same day bodes ill: to quote the declar- ation of the editors and contributors of the independent Hungárián press which mirrors the viewpoint of the opposition, "It is evident, that legislation chose to grant further powers to the already incontrolably dominant police forces instead of launching an overall revision of criminal jurisprudence that would satisfy the principles Iáid down in the Helsinki final document about political and civil rights."
