1. Fatal consequences of human greed - Human smuggling causing the death of 71 migrants Dr. Gábor Schmidt prosecutor – County Prosecution Office of County Bács-Kiskun - Kecskemét, Hungary

2. Human smuggling in Hungary Definition of the crime (§ 353. of Criminal Code): providing aid to the unlawful crossing of the state border – felony Qualified cases: enrichment, giving aid to more persons, torture of the smuggled persons, armed or businesslike commission, criminal conspiracy, OCG 15th September 2015: amendement to the CC: more severe punishments for facilitators and organizers (basic crime: 5 years, qualified crimes: 2-8, 5-10, 5-15 years) 15th September 2015: closing of the Serbian-Hungarian border with fence, new crimes (e.g.: unlawful crossing, damaging of the border fence) – more than 2600 convictions (11st May 2016)

3. The Western Balkan Route Serbian-Hungarian border (163 km) Affected counties in Hungary: Csongrád and Bács-Kiskun

4. Migration crisis in Hungary extreme increase of illegal migration: county Bács-Kiskun: 2014 (whole year): 12.653 migrants – until 30th August 2015: 19.976 persons Last days before the border closing: 3.000 -5.000 migrants daily along the whole border extreme growth of human smuggling cases: county Csongrád: 2014: 148 cases – until 24th August 2015: 210 cases, countrywide: 2013: 246, 2014: 363, 2015 (whole year): 662 cases (finished investigations only!), county Bács-Kiskun: 98 cases (15%) Prosecution and court practice: accelerated procedure, pre trial detention (more difficult cases, OCG), imprisonment, foreign culprits: expulsion from Hungary, confiscation of the illegal obtained assets) After 15th September 2015: substantially less human smuggling cases, but more sophisticated and unscrupulous crimes

5. The case – the beginning 27th August 2015 (2 pm): official notification from the Austrian authorities: in Austria, on the motorway A4, near Parndorf an abandoned Hungarian refrigerator lorry was found with many dead migrants inside (71 dead people: men, women, children) 27th August 2015: start of the Hungarian investigations: detection of the owner of the lorry and the claimant of the Hungarian registration number - three Bulgarian and one Afghani citizens were arrested on the same day, on the 29th August 2015: arrest of one more Bulgarian citizen Five suspects (four Bulgarian and one Afghani citizen) – all of them in pre trial detention (until the 29th August 2016) Investigations carried out by the National Bureau of Investigation (NNI), supervised by Local PO of Kecskemét (until December 2015), then County PO of County Bács- Kiskun, case of outstanding importance, tight supervision of PO

6. The facts of the crime The refrigerator lorry was purchased by the suspect S (Bulgarian) in Kecskemét, Hungary. The suspects L (Afghani) and M (Bulgarian) were also present at the purchase, the price was payed by L. S started the procedure to obtain a temporary registration number for the lorry. After receiving the registration – in the evening of 25th August – the three suspects took possession of the lorry, fixed the registration and drove the vehicle to a lorry parking place near Kecskemét. On the 26th August about 3.25 am the lorry was driven by the suspect I (Bulgarian) from Kecskemét near the Serbian-Hungarian border, where the migrants entered the lorry. They travelled along motorway M5, M0 and M1 through Hungary to Austria with no stop.

7. The facts of the crime The lorry crossed the Hungarian-Austrian border on the 26th August at 9.15 am and stopped shortly afterwards on the Austrian motorway A4 near Parndorf. The transport was secured by the suspect T (Bulgarian), who acted as forerunner. After discovering the death of the smuggled migrants the driver and the forerunner fled to Hungary. The refrigerator lorry lacked any kind of ventillation, therefore the death of the locked migrants occured on Hungarian territory within 3 hours from entering the lorry. The cause of death was suffocation.

8. Qualification of the crime Disclosed accusation: felony of qualified human smuggling (businesslike, with torture of the smuggled persons) committed in OCG – 2-16 years in prison (according to CC in force at commission time) From 27th August until November 2015: parallel investigations in Austria and Hungary (AT: murder and human smuggling, HU: qualified human smuggling) November 2015: takeover of the Austrian proceedings (case „Parndorf”) by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Hungary – Hungary prosecutes all aspects of the crime. Takover of another Austrian procedure: case „Gols” (On the 27th August 2015 the transport of 68 illegal migrants from Hungary to Austria, the vehicle was stopped by the police in Austria, area Gols, the driver fled.

9. Organized criminal group (OCG) Definition of the Hungarian CC (§ 459.): a coordinated acting group of three or more people organized for a longer time to commit premeditated crimes punishable by imprisonment of five years or more (internal hierarchy, coordinated and distinctive roles of the perpetrators) This case: a coordinated and well organized international criminal group: L: organizer, contact with the Serbian members of the OCG, who transported migrants from Serbia to Hungary, also securing the assets and organizing the transports from the Serbian border to Western Europe S: organizer, procurement of the transport vehicles (purchase, technical inspection, obtaining registration numbers) M and T: organizers, getting drivers, facilitators from Bulgaria to Hungary, accomodation, instructions to the drivers

10. Current state of the investigations Questioning of witnesses, interrogation of suspects, obtaining expert opinions and other documents, analysis of camera and mobile phone datas, confiscation and inspection of transport vehicles Translation of the documents obtained through takeover and MLA from Austria, Germany, Bulgaria and Serbia (huge amount of documents) Takeover of the refrigerator lorry (occured in January 2016) Accusation of further human smuggling transports regarding all suspects Planned: continuous interrogation of suspects (accusation of even more human smuggling transports and qualified murder), obtaining expert opinions, prosecuting other organizers and facilitators End of summer 2016: finishing the investigations and charging

11. Difficulties of the investigations Translation costs and problems (international „trained” criminals speaking many languages and dialects) Admissability of evidences obtained from other countries through MLA Legal unity of human smuggling committed in OCG – all conducts of our suspects should be prosecuted in one procedure (a foreign conviction of one smuggling would cause res iudicata for the whole organized crime) Conflict of interests: fair and speedy prosecution and charging of the murder case with the 71 dead migrants – on the other hand: thorough investigation of the whole organized criminal group involving all human smuggling transports of the OCG Solution: doing the (almost) impossible: prosecution of both with the human smuggling limited to lorry type transports in the period between June and end of August 2015!

12. International aspects and cooperation Related foreign procedures in Austria, Germany, Bulgaria and Serbia Austria: obtaining evidences through MLA and takeover of 2 cases (Parndorf and Gols) – contact: PO Eisenstadt Germany: 11 related criminal cases (PO Passau and Dresden) – suspects of the Hungarian proceedings were the organizers in the German cases – documents of the related cases obtained through MLA – division of tasks: German authorities prosecute the facilitators arrested in Germany, while Hungary investigates the conducts of the organizers Bulgaria: money laundering case against one suspect, obtaining information through MLA Serbia: criminal proceedings against the Serbian members of the OCG, obtaining evidences through MLA Slovakia: obtaining evidences through MLA (mobile phone datas) Result of the cooperation: all aspects and perpetrators of the international OCG covered

13. International aspects and cooperation Instrument of the cooperation: motion of Hungary to establish a JIT (coordination conference in the Hague – 18th September 2015) – no success – evidence obtaining through MLAs Continuous information exchange with Austria, Germany, Bulgaria and Serbia through SIENA (problem: admissability of the obtained information in the Hungarian proceedings – MLA required!) Excellent cooperation with Austria and Germany: Austria: smooth and continuous contact (phone and e-mail), three personal meetings (in Kecskemét and at the Hungarian- Austrian border), MLAs, Germany: timely performance of the MLAs, possibility for the Hungarian police officers to participate in the interrogations in Germany

14. Suggestions International OCGs: urge to establish JITs (in human smuggling cases affecting three or more member states JITs are far more efficient, than MLAs – principle of mutual recognition) – simplification of the signing procedure More personal contact between the prosecutors of the affected member states Real time evidence transfer among the affected member states Translation problems: list of reliable translators in rare or hardly understandable languages or dialects with the aid of EUROPOL Harmonization of the national procedural laws to combat admissability problems (e.g. wiretaps)

15. Thank You for Your attention! Dr. Gábor Schmidt Prosecutor, spokesman County PO of County Bács-Kiskun, Kecskemét Tel.: 0036 30 98 59 159 E-mail: schmidt.gabor@mku.hu