which called on Christmas Eve to exterminate Christians, BosNewsLife monitored Thursday, January 22.
The ORTT said it had banned Budapest-based Tilos Radio from the airwaves for 30 days while excluding the network from applying for funds for half a year "as a final warning", after one presenter suggested on December 24 it was time "to wipe out all Christians."
Tilos Radio, which means "Forbidden Radio" in reference to its former status as a radio pirate, already fired the host who it claimed had been talking under the influence of alcohol. It also apologized for insulting people in this mainly Catholic nation.
Hungarian media described the ORTT-decision as a compromise as right-wing delegates wanted to close down the station while liberal officials suggested a 24-hour cessation of broadcasting was sufficient.
"EXAGGERATED REACTION"
Yet, Tilos Radio board of trustees chairman Gabor Csabai told reporters that while the station expected punishment, it finds the 30-day broadcasting license suspension "to be an exaggerated reaction" as the ORTT never gave such a stringent penalty.
He stressed Tilos Radio will consider whether to appeal it in court, once the station receives an official, written, confirmation of the media watchdog’s ruling.
The ORTT-punishment came less than two weeks after a controversial demonstration in Budapest, where thousands of right wing protesters linked the radio’s anti-Christian remarks to Israel.
NAZI ERA
Shouting "we had enough" demonstrators were seen waving flags from the Nazi era, while burning at least one Israeli flag. The Israeli Embassy in Budapest condemned the flag burning saying it did not understand why anti-Christian remarks aired by Tilos Radio, had anything to do with the independent democratic state of Israel.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy, who also condemned the flag burning, has received death treats, his office said. The threats came in a letter signed by Budapest Civic Groups, part of a right wing movement lead by former prime minister Viktor Orban, which co-organized the mass rally, media said.
The flag burning also outraged Holocaust survivors remembering Hungary as a close ally of Nazi Germany during World War Two when 600,000 Hungarian Jews were massacred. The country’s first ever Holocaust Museum is scheduled to open in April this year.
SUSPECTS QUESTIONED
A Serbian-Montenegrin citizen, whom several photos reportedly showed taking part in the burning of the Israeli flag outside Tilos Radio on January 11, gave himself up to police Wednesday, Hungarian news papers reported.
Police questioned the man, identified as Zoltan B, and reportedly released him later that evening. Two other suspects, named as Miklos B. and Richard M. Giorgio, were also released pending trial or further evidence proving their involvement in the incident, BosNewsLife learned Thursday, January 22
Their brief detention came amid an ongoing debate about freedom of speech in this post-Communist country. Last month Hungarian President Ferenc Madl refused to sign anti-hate speech legislation sending it instead to the Constitutional Court for a second opinion.
The European Union, which Hungary hopes to join in less than 100 days, has in the past expressed concern about a revival of right wing extremism in Hungary and other former Soviet satellite states.
