According to Harlem Désir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the conviction of journalist Gergely Nyilas, who in 2015 entered Hungary in disguise, claiming that he was an asylum seeker from Kyrgyzstan so that he could make valid reports on migration, sets dangerous precedent and can further limit media freedom.In 2015, Gergely Nyilas, journalist at Index online news magazine, claimed that he was a refugee from Kyrgyzstan. Nyilas said his main goal was to inform properly about the Hungarian authorities’ treatment of asylum seekers. After Nyilas revealed himself to the authorities, he was accused of forging public documents and misleading the authorities. On 6 March, 2018 the court in the city of Győr issued a final ruling convicting the journalist. The court acknowledged the public role of journalists, but ordered the journalist to cover the costs of the lawsuit.
Source: www.index.hu, www.osce.org
Photo: Vladimir Simicek / AFP
