Hungary must report back to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers by 1 December this year concerning the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg regarding poor conditions of detention and overcrowding in prisons and the lack of effective remedies in this respect (Varga and Others and István Gábor Kovács group v. Hungary, Applications Nos. 14097/12, 15707/10).
The Committee of Ministers adopted an Interim Resolution for this group of cases during its quarterly meeting to supervise the implementation of rulings from the European Court. In its decision published today, the Committee of Ministers highlighted the persisting poor conditions in Hungarian prisons, reminding the authorities of its repeated calls to adopt a comprehensive long-term strategy to resolve the problem and introduce an effective remedy system.
Even though the Committee has consistently pushed for lasting solutions, the authorities mostly focused on building more prisons. Considering the recent continuous increase in occupancy levels, these measures only offer temporary relief and – as also affirmed by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) are incapable of providing appropriate living conditions and a lasting solution to overcrowding.
Furthermore, despite the Committee’s repeated call, the authorities have not tracked complaints made by prisoners about detention conditions and did not respond to persisting issues regarding the compensatory remedy. The Committee of Ministers thus exhorts Hungary to either reintroduce a specific preventive remedy or to track the complaints made in the general preventive mechanism, to submit comprehensive case-law and statistical data, and to take specific steps to address concerns about the compensatory scheme.
Against this background, the Committee invites the Hungarian authorities to provide updated information by 1 December 2025, ahead of returning to this group of cases in March 2026.
