The issue of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole will be cleared up by the Government „in some form” by the end of this year, Minister of Justice László Trócsányi said on public television on 8 June 2014.

Minister Trócsányi said on M1 television that a recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights against life sentences without the possibility of parole in Hungary was „one-sided”. The Court failed to consider that Hungary’s Fundamental Law has a system of pardons as well as exercising a „strict penal policy”, he explained.

The Court in Strasbourg ruled against Hungary earlier in May in a non-final decision involving the case of life imprisonment without parole.

Minister Trócsányi said he was certain that life imprisonment without the possibility of parole would remain part of Hungary’s penal system. There will be separate regulations on the issue, although that is not the most pressing matter at hand, he added.

(Ministry of Justice)