ERRC demands independent investigation over fatal police action in Hungary
04 February 2025
The ERRC has issued a complaint to the National Chief of Police and the Hungarian Equal Treatment Authority following the death of József Zsákai while being apprehended by police officers on 22 December 2024 in the town of Zagyvarékas. As reported earlier, following a car chase and a brief struggle with arresting police officers, the 40-year-old Romani man lost consciousness, and neither the officers nor the paramedics who arrived nine minutes later were able to resuscitate him.
In edited video footage of the incident broadcast on television, a police officer can be heard shouting “Stop, you motherfucker!”, and the police pursuing, grappling with, and handcuffing the man, who can be heard shouting “I’m sick, I can’t bear it”. The police chase-and-arrest operation, which resulted in a fatality, was just down to the fact that officers knew József Zsákai was driving without a valid licence.
According to the ERRC complaint, available information raises serious concerns that the death of József Zsákai was caused by the unnecessary and disproportionate use of force by police against him, and suggests a breach of the principle of proportionality required under both Hungarian and international law.
The ERRC has called for an effective, independent investigation of the incident and also reminds the state authorities of their additional duty, “when investigating deaths at the hands of State agents, to take all reasonable steps to unmask any racist motive and to establish whether or not ethnic hatred or prejudice may have played a role in the events.”
The case investigation was concluded with unprecedented haste by the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County Police. In a statement issued on 8 January 2025, the police insisted that the man died during a lawful police operation; that the prosecutor's office was notified and launched an internal investigation which concluded that the police acted lawfully, and that an emergency autopsy confirmed “that the man's death was not caused by police action, especially unnecessary violence."
The ERRC complaint holds that the police statement that the officers’ actions were lawful and unconnected with Zsákai’s death, was premature and heightened concerns about the independence and impartiality of the investigation. The investigation should have been conducted by an independent body, not the same county police department, and the complaint found it troubling that the officers involved were not suspended during the investigation.
In short, the ERRC calls for an effective and independent investigation into the actions of the police – one that complies with all the relevant criteria under national and international law – and that this investigation take all reasonable steps to establish whether or not the police action was in any way motivated by racial animus or bias.
