JUDGMENT IN HUNGARY
directed by Eszter Hajdú, Hungary and Germany, 2013, 104’
In 2008 and 2009, a group of Hungarian right-wing extremists committed a series of indiscriminate attacks on members of the Roma community. Six people were killed, including a five-year-old, and another five people were injured. The trial of the four suspects lasted two-and-a-half-years, and the verdict was issued in August 2013. The director filmed the trial, providing us a disturbing picture of the suspects, an irritable judge and the families of the victims. At the start of the trial, the victims and their parents assume that there will be justice. But will the extremists be found guilty? The widespread cultural environment and anti-Roma sentiment in Hungarian society, as well as forms of pervasive institutional racism, raise fears about the outcome of the process.
Discussant:
Stefano Pasta (CREMIT – University Cattolica of Milan)
