Declaring the vandalisation of the technical border fence which is currently being built on the Hungarian-Serbian border a criminal offence will be a sufficient deterrent, the Minister of State of the Ministry of Justice stated.

Róbert Répássy said on 10 August 2015, Monday on the programme Tonight of the M1 current affairs news channel: the Ministry supports the proposal of the parliamentary group of Fidesz that the vandalisation of the technical border fence should be declared a criminal offence. At present, this only constitutes a misdemeanour.

One criterion has already been looked into, Mr Répássy said, namely whether prohibited border-crossing should be reinstated as a criminal offence. The Minister of State takes the view, and believes that the Ministry is also inclined to adopt this view, that „declaring the vandalisation of the border fence a criminal offence will be a sufficient deterrent”.

He added: it is necessary to take into consideration that a temporary technical border fence is being built on the Hungarian-Serbian border. Consequently, „prohibited border-crossing is hardly conceivable in any other way but through the vandalisation of this border fence”. Therefore, those who do not observe the policing rule relating to the protection of the state borders „will necessarily also commit an act of vandalisation”, he said. As a result, „prohibited border-crossing will become punishable through the vandalisation of the fence”. The Ministry takes the view that this is a fair and correct solution under criminal law.

(Ministry of Justice)