Freedom For The Röszke 11 | 16.01.2018

STATEMENT Published by the „ Free the röszke11″ solidarity network

On the 8th, 10th and 12th January 2018 the Hungarian states‘ trial against Ahmed H. went into the next round of seemingly absurd and endless hearings. Ahmed’s case is now back at the first court level, after the second instance referred it back for lack of consideration of contradictions in the evidence. The court proceeded, going over the same police testimonies, watching police footages, with no new witnesses or evidence. Again the judge acted as prosecutor, but compared with the previous judge, he asked Ahmed questions, allowed him to answer and he was even listening to his statements. So are we now witnessing a fair trail, as some reports say? Is Hungary’s justice system after all functioning properly now and justice finally prevail?

Fact is, Ahmed is imprisoned in isolation, separated from his family for more than two years, that he was picked up by the state sleeping at the train station to serve their racist propaganda campaign (imagine a “ terrorist“ going back to the country he „attacked“ three days before sleeping at a train station). Ahmed was arrested at a time when the Hungarian state itself was transporting people from Croatia to Western Europe through its territory. They were transporting the very same people which the anti-terrorist troops had brutally beaten up and pushed back to Serbia in Röszke only few days before. The specific definition of a crime is always a matter of state’s definition.

Fact is, that there are fenced prisons in Hungary and all over Europe where thousands of people are held for unknown time periods and brutally mistreated, that there are border hunters going after and torturing people without documents every single night. Was all this ever mentioned in any court hearing? To us, the discussion whether the new judge is less racist than the previous one is irrelevant, as this trial should not be held in the first place. The trial against Ahmed H. has always been, and remains, a politically motivated show trial. The Fidesz government uses Ahmed as a scapegoat to criminalize migrants and to create an image of dangerous migrant-terrorists. It has therefore even invented something they called “The battle of Röszke” (with its own Wikipedia page), framing it as an epic fight where the Hungarian police defended the country heroically against the „attackers“. Thereby the Hungarian government can frame itself as the defender of Europe and its Christian values. Europe is delighted about the role Hungary plays with such pride. There are many “civilized” countries of the EU benefiting from the ongoing brutality Hungary exerts on migrants at its borders. Europe can point the finger at someone else, even though the European Frontex-mission operates on that very border – the militarization of borders became something „normal“. There exists an industry (a global network of private companies and state actors) which is profiting from producing and selling weapons, providing also items and services for so called „border security“, prisons, refugee camps and it is rarely discussed… This context is forgotten when we talk about ‚fairness‘ in this current trial and countless other cases.

In the current court hearings we are witnessing how history is written through distortion of the collective memory of previous struggles. On the 16th of September 2015 thousands of people protested for free movement. Remembering, keeping strength and reminding ourselves and others is part of our everyday resistance. A political show trial can never be a fair trial. We do not accept the fake fairness of a new trial with a “nicer“ judge; we remember the context of all the ongoing crimes by the state, the creation of the ‚terrorism-migration‘-connection, the criminalization and repression of solidarity actions.

Therefore, instead of demanding a fair trial for Ahmed, we demand his immediate release! Migration and protest is not a crime! The next court hearings will take place in Szeged on the 14th and 19th of march. The first instance verdict is expected.

Join us and show solidarity with Ahmed!
Immediate Freedom for Ahmed H. and all political prisoners!
January 2018.