The Romanian Supreme Court rejected the appeal of László Tőkés in the case of the annulment of the presidential decree revoking his state award, Agerpres wrote on Wednesday, referring to the final court decision. Lawyer Előd Kincses said that the case will be referred to the European Court of Human Rights.
The decision presented by the Romanian news agency deemed László Tőkés' appeal unfounded.
The former bishop received the knighthood of the Order of the Star of Romania from former head of state Traian Basescu on the 20th anniversary of the revolution for his role in triggering the 1989 revolution in Timișoara, which led to the fall of the Ceaușescu dictatorship. However, this award was revoked by the current Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in March 2016.
The withdrawal of recognition was initiated by Prime Minister Victor Ponta in 2013, after László Tőkés proposed that Hungary assume a "protecting power" role for the sake of Transylvania, as Austria did in the case of South Tyrol.
The former bishop and politician asked the court to annul the presidential decree revoking his award, but the first-instance Bucharest Court of Appeal rejected his request in November 2016.
In May 2021, the Romanian Supreme Court accepted another appeal by László Tőkés and ordered the Bucharest Court of Appeals to rehear the case of withdrawing László Tőkés' Romanian state award.
After the rejection at the first instance level, the case went back to the Supreme Court, which set the date of the hearing for October 10. The final verdict was announced on Wednesday.
At a press conference in Marosvásárhely in May, the plaintiffs evaluated the Supreme Court's acceptance of their appeal as a semi-success, and expressed their belief that they would finally win the case in October. At the press conference at the time, László Tőkés stated that the withdrawal of the award is an integral part of the falsification of history, which also aims to discredit the popular uprising in Temesvár.
"This current trial is also being conducted for the recognition of the historical truth, and for ordering a halt to the anti-Hungarian course that has prevailed in a dominant manner in Romania since 1989. That is why we can boldly state: the biggest stake in this trial is to overcome anti-Hungarian politics," the former bishop was quoted as saying in a May announcement by the Transylvanian Hungarian National Council (EMNT).
Előd Kincses, a lawyer, said that the case will be referred to the European Court of Human Rights, as human rights values that are strictly protected by it have been violated.
"László Tőkés was stripped of the Star of Romania award for expressing his opinion," stated the lawyer, who believes that the decision is a shame for the rule of law in Romania.
He reminded that the revocation of the award was proposed by social democratic party politicians Ecaterina Andronescu and Gabriela Firea, who are members of the honor court of the Order of the Star of Romania, and participated in the adoption of their own proposal despite the protests of Tőkésék. "So there were prosecutors and judges at the same time, which is completely unacceptable," pointed out Előd Kincses.
He also recalled that the right to defense was seriously violated, since they did not allow him to represent László Tőkés as a lawyer at the meeting of the honor court. After presenting to the court of honor the authorization of the national bar association to represent László Tőkés, social democratic politician Mircea Geoana, current NATO deputy secretary general, told him that he could stay inside, but not speak, so he and his client got up and left, Kincses recalled.
"So there are such reasons for absolute nullity, for this reason there has not been a judicial council in seven years that has examined these two objections, they have found all kinds of loopholes," said the lawyer, adding that he was surprised by the Supreme Court's decision and that the Human The case will be brought before the European Court of Rights.
MTI
