[ad_1]
Hungary released 777 foreigners in recent weeks, mostly Serbian, Ukrainian and Romanian nationals, convicted of human trafficking, the Hungarian Prison Service said in response to questions from Reuters on Wednesday.
“Imprisoning foreigners costs Hungarian prisons billions of forints every year,” says BvOP press office. (File)
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
Citing prison overcrowding, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government issued a decree in April allowing foreigners convicted of people-smuggling to be released on condition that they leave within 72 hours of their release Hungary.
The move has drawn protests from neighboring Austria, the preferred destination for smuggled migrants from the Balkans en route to the heart of the European Union via Hungary. Vienna said it considered the release of the traffickers a security threat.
Of the 2,636 people convicted of human trafficking in Hungarian prisons, 808 were foreign citizens eligible for release, the Hungarian Prison Service (BvOP) said.
“The imprisonment of foreigners costs Hungarian prisons billions of forints every year,” the BvOP press office said in its emailed response.
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
{{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
It said that if the released persons did not leave Hungarian territory within 72 hours and were arrested by the police, they would have to serve their sentences in prison.
The Hungarian route remains an attractive route for many migrants, despite stepping up border police patrols and building steel fences after the EU’s 2015 migrant crisis on its southern border with Serbia.
Once in Hungary, migrants can cross the generally open borders within Europe’s Schengen zone to wealthier western European countries such as Austria or Germany.
[ad_2]
Source link