On August 28, 2023, the Military Council of the Penal College of the Debrecen Court of Justice held a preparatory meeting in the case of the prison guard against whom the Debrecen Regional Investigative Prosecutor’s Office brought charges for hitting an inmate in the prison hospital in Berettyóújfalu while on duty.
During the preparatory session, the prosecutor presented the indictment, then made a moderate motion to impose the punishment, and indicated his evidence.
The accused denied committing the crime at the preparatory meeting, he did not waive his right to trial, so the military judge immediately referred the case to trial.
The court heard all the witnesses except for one – who had previously been legally expelled from the territory of the country, and whose whereabouts could not be determined – and examined the available evidence.
Based on these, the court found the defendant guilty of the crime of abuse committed in official proceedings and therefore sentenced him to 2 years in prison, the execution of which was suspended for a 3-year probationary period.
According to the verdict, the accused was on duty as a district inspector in the Penitentiary Health Center in Berettyóújfalu on February 26, 2023, from 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. In the institution, two correctional sergeant nurses were changing the bedclothes from 10:40 a.m., during which they opened the door of the indicted ward and stood in front of it. The inmates, who had been in the open air before him, arrived back there not long before and took off their masks in the ward. The defendant and another district inspector noticed that one Irish, one Moldovan, and two Hungarian prisoners in the ward were not wearing masks. The prison guards called on the inmates to wear masks, and a dispute arose between the defendant and the Irish man, during which the sergeant once hit the inmate on the back of the head with an open palm.
The court’s judgment was not final. The prosecutor filed an appeal against the decision due to aggravation, while the defendant and his defense lawyer reserved three working days to think about the decision.
(Debrecen Court)
