The Arrest Warrant has not been revoked. The Ombudsmans Inquiry on the Consequences of the Multiple Failures of the Police

The Arrest Warrant has not been revoked. The Ombudsman's Inquiry on the Consequences of the Multiple Failures of the Police

According to the victim's description, the perpetrator of the criminal offence was a 50-60 year old man with greying hair and his wife. On this basis, police issued an arrest warrant for a 34 year old man and his wife.  The complainants were later detained and then their pre-trial detention was ordered. The court of second instance released them from there. Police escorted them again after they had been released, as they failed to revoke the arrest warrant that they had issued previously. The ombudsman established the infringement of the fundamental right to personal freedom.

The wife and the husband were detained and were under pre-trial detention after that police had issued an arrest warrant with regard to the felony of extortion committed with grievous duress. The couple defended all along that they had not committed the crime. Finally, after 12 day detention, the court of second instance released them establishing that there are no reasonable grounds to suspect that a criminal offence has been committed, as several lines of evidence occurred which contested that they were the perpetrators.

The court made this decision in spite of that the 78 year old victim recognized by the photos that the couple was the perpetrators threatening him. However, the quality of the photo of the suspected wife was particularly poor. The court also noted that the victim described the male perpetrator of the criminal offence as an older 50 or 60 year old person with slightly greying hair while the suspected man was 34 years old. The victim talked to the perpetrator earlier via phone, police also found out that the phone number belonged to the suspected person's father. The signature on the contract does not match the signature of the suspected person, which is readily understood by a lay person, however, police did not investigate that, either.

The couple was escorted again a few days after their release as police forgot to revoke the arrest warrant.   

Based on the decision of the court, the ombudsman established an infringement related to the fundamental right to personal freedom because of the police detainment and the second escort.  The ombudsman asked the competent police station to consider compensation for the couple and to proceed in the future with more care when they decide on measures limiting personal freedom.   

The report is available in Hungarian at 201200340.rtf