BUDAPEST (EJP-AFP)---The Federation of Jewish communities in Hungary called “outrageous” a ruling by the Hungarian Constitutional Court rejecting Socialist-initiated amendments of the country's hate speech bill.
The court, which called the amendments “unconstitutional”, said Monday in a statement that they would cause the curtailing of freedom of expression.
"In a free and democratic society the expression of extreme and exclusive opinion does not endanger the foundations and operations of the society because by expressing such views, the discriminator confines itself to the periphery," the court said.
The constitutional court stressed that in order to isolate voices of hate, political figures consistently have to take a stand against exclusion.
The Hungarian Parliament passed two amendments concerning hate speech with the sole support of the Socialist faction.
According to the first amendment, passed in November 2007, the civil code on hate speech would enable legal action even if someone's human rights are hurt, not personally but by expressions directed at a group to which the person belongs.
Passed in February, the amendment of the penal code foresaw a maximum two-year prison sentence for anyone who uses inflamatory expressions about specific ethnic groups or offends their dignity.
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Israel's chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, opened a new centre and a synagogue in Budapest aimed at stimulating Jewishness in the country amid rising concern over anti-Semitism.
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The amendments -- not endorsed by the Socialist-led government -- did not take effect because suspecting their unconstitutionality, Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom asked for preliminary review by the Constitutional Court in March.
As a reaction to the president's move, Mazsihisz , the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities boycotted a meeting of religious leaders, organized by Solyom.
Around 50,000 Jews live in Hungary.
The Hungarian parliament has already tried in vain to turn hate speech into a penal act three times since 1992.
The constitutional court also struck down a clause on funding church-run schools. It ruled that subsidies for schools not run by the state or local governments may not be less than subsidies allocated to local government schools, as this is inconsistent with the treaty signed with the Vatican in 1997.
The Education Ministry has drafted a government decree on state funding of church-run schools and will consult the churches before August 31.
