A Hungarian court handed jail terms of between one and three years to a group of mostly Syrian migrants today for illegal border-crossing during a riot last year soon after Hungary sealed its border with Serbia.
Nine Syrians and one Iraqi were convicted by the court in Szeged (160 kilometres south of Budapest) of participation in clashes with police at the border on September 16, a day after authorities closed the border with a razor-wire fence.
The toughest sentence, a three-year jail term, was given to a man who spoke to the crowd with a megaphone during the disturbances.
Six other men received prison terms of 14 months as well as four-year expulsions from Hungary. A further two men and one woman received suspended jail terms on account of their ill health.
Tough new laws passed last September by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government made it a crime to illegally cross the border, punishable by between one and five years in prison.
Today's first-instance verdict brings to a close the first case that came to trial since the laws were introduced, and also the case involving the largest number of defendants.
Fast-track trials of those caught crossing illegally have led to expulsion orders for around 3,000 migrants since September, according to court data.
On September 16 several dozen migrants demanded to be allowed to cross the newly erected border fence at the Roszke crossing point.
Some threw stones, sticks and bottles while police fired tear gas and used water cannon to force the group, which had pushed its way across the border line, back onto Serbian territory.
The incident left around 15 police and 100-150 migrants injured.
Orban was criticised over the treatment last year of hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking to travel onwards to northern Europe before his government stopped the influx by closing its borders.
Rights groups like the Hungarian Helsinki Committee have slammed Hungary for its "complete denial of protection" to migrants.
