In an accelerated procedure, the Debrecen City Court heard the case of those 5 members of the ”Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület ” (For a Better Future Home Guard Association) who were arrested for collecting signatures last Friday in Hajdúhadház.
The members of the Association arrived at Hajdúhadház on Wednesday in order to patrol the streets voluntarily. Allegedly, the locals called them for the sake of safety since crime in Hajdúhadház is rampant even on the national level. The local government and the police, which are in exclusive charge of maintaining law and order, were ignorant of the arrival of the home guards. Policemen checked their identities, searched some of them on Friday and arrested 5 of them for collecting signatures. The police initiated proceedings for disorderly conduct. Accompanied by the attention of civilians, sympathizers, politicians and the press, the City Court heard their case at a public trial on Saturday.
The sentence was announced at 2.30 pm.: the proceeding was terminated, the handcuffs were unlocked and the home guards were released. Cheering, applause and the exclamation”May God give us a better future!” followed the announcement of the sentence. After analyzing the police reports, the court ruled that no infringement had been committed. Signature collection is a basic right which the officially registered” Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület” can assert.
