Ineffective investigation into racist threats by participants of anti-Roma march

Case of R.B. v. Hungary

Failure to adequately investigate threats and insults made during anti-Roma march in Hungary

In the case of R.B. v. Hungary (application no. 64602/12) the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority, that there had been:

a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights on account of the inadequate investigation into the applicant’s allegations of racially motivated abuse.

The case concerned the complaint by a woman of Roma origin that she had been subjected to racist insults and threats by participants in an anti-Roma march and that the authorities had failed to investigate the racist verbal abuse.

The Court considered in particular that, given that the insults and acts in question had taken place during an anti-Roma march and had come from a member of an extremely right-wing vigilante group, the authorities should have conducted the investigation in that specific context. However, they had failed to take all reasonable steps to establish the role of racist motives.

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