23rd January 2015 and Monday morning a dozen police officers raided the offices of found that the house “On two nongovernmental organizations in Budapest. The two groups, search was unlawful. Ökotárs and Demnet, are part of a four NGO-consortium that administers foreign donor money for civil society organizations in to the written “According Hungary. justification of the latter court decision, there was to a social media post by the head of Demnet, its no evidence that the “According employees were prevented by police from using their phones members of the advisory while police were on the premises, and had laptops and servers board of the Foundation confiscated by police. Police sources quoted in media said the had breached their reason for the raid was and unauthorized trustee obligations at the ‘misappropriation financial activity” committed by unknown perpetrator.’ time when the house “an search was ordered; gathered later outside Ökotárs office in Budapest in therefore, the suspicion “Protesters response. of misappropriation of funds cannot be is only the latest in the Hungarian government’s assault on established. The Court “This civil society. In May it ordered surprise financial inspections of the added that the Police did NGOs raided today, together with a third member of the not formally decide the consortium. At the time, Hungary accused Norway of interfering criminal complaint filed in its internal politics by funding Hungarian NGOs. Linked to the for unauthorized May raid, Ökotárs was first accused of strongly linked” to financial activities. As a “being an opposition political party. The NGO and the grant recipient result, at the time of the organizations, among them prominent human rights and house search the scope organizations, were subsequently investigated by of the investigation did Hungary’s government for alleged fraud.’ not include the criminal ‘organized offence of unauthorized financial activities. Unacceptable police raid on EEA and Norway Grants fund operator in Hungary Press release | Published: 2014-09-09 | Ministry of Foreign conclusion, two “In Affairs, Government of Norway contradictory court decisions have been rendered regarding the
“On Monday morning a dozen police officers raided the offices of two nongovernmental organizations in Budapest. The two groups, Ökotárs and Demnet, are part of a four NGO-consortium that administers foreign donor money for civil society organizations in Hungary. “According to a social media post by the head of Demnet, its employees were prevented by police from using their phones while police were on the premises, and had laptops and servers confiscated by police. Police sources quoted in media said the reason for the raid was ‘misappropriation and unauthorized financial activity” committed by “an unknown perpetrator.’ “Protesters gathered later outside Ökotárs office in Budapest in response. “This is only the latest in the Hungarian government’s assault on civil society. In May it ordered surprise financial inspections of the NGOs raided today, together with a third member of the consortium. At the time, Hungary accused Norway of interfering in its internal politics by funding Hungarian NGOs. Linked to the May raid, Ökotárs was first accused of “being strongly linked” to an opposition political party. The NGO and the grant recipient organizations, among them prominent human rights and organizations, were subsequently investigated by Hungary’s government for alleged ‘organized fraud.’ Unacceptable police raid on EEA and Norway Grants fund operator in Hungary Press release | Published: 2014-09-09 | Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Norway 23rd January 2015 and found that the house search was unlawful. “According to the written justification of the latter court decision, there was no evidence that the members of the advisory board of the Foundation had breached their trustee obligations at the time when the house search was ordered; therefore, the suspicion of misappropriation of funds cannot be established. The Court added that the Police did not formally decide the criminal complaint filed for unauthorized financial activities. As a result, at the time of the house search the scope of the investigation did not include the criminal offence of unauthorized financial activities. “In conclusion, two contradictory court decisions have been rendered regarding the