TORONTO: Stop the Deportations!

southern ontario | rights and freedoms | event notice Sunday April 27, 2008 20:22 by anon

(Please forward this urgent action appeal far and wide)

Friends,

Below is an urgent action appeal to stop the forced removal of a
protected person from Canada to face persecution and cruel treatment in
Hungary.

Mr. Horvath is of Roma heritage, the son of a Holocaust survivor, and
was often the victim of extreme acts of violence by police and
skinheads in his homeland, including a near-fatal stabbing. His wife
and teenage son are pleading with the Canadian government to halt this
unjust and illegal return of a refugee to the country from which he
fled.

After the article, there is a list of things you can do. On Thursday,
May 1, there will be a demonstration at 2 pm at the Toronto office of
the Hungarian Consulate (425 Bloor Street East (at Sherbourne subway).
We have listed the locations of other Hungarian consulates (Calgary,
WInnipeg, Vancouver) and the embassy (Ottawa) in case folks in those
cities are moved to hold a support vigil as well.

Thanks!

Toronto Action for Social Change, tasc@web.ca, (416) 651-5800

Terrified Roma man in hiding as wife, son beg Ottawa for sympathy
By Colin Perkel, Canadian Press

TORONTO — A Roma refugee terrified of being sent back to Hungary
remained in hiding Wednesday while his distraught wife and teenaged son
appealed to the federal justice minister to reconsider his extradition.

Ottawa has ordered Adolf Horvath, 51, deported to stand trial on what
his family claims are trumped up fraud and extortion charges motivated
by his ethnic origins.

Fearing extradition was imminent, Horvath vanished five weeks ago.

"I miss my dad," Adam, 13, a Grade 8 student in Toronto, said as tears
streamed down his face.

"I have no future without my dad. I can't live without him. If he goes
to Hungary, he might be killed and I don't want that."

Horvath has reason to be afraid of going back.

He was repeatedly assaulted and threatened in Hungary, where abuse of
Roma - sometimes referred to as Gypsies - is common. In one attack at
home, skinheads stabbed and beat him badly in front of his horrified
wife Erika, 36, and Adam, who was then just 2 1/2.

"They almost killed him," Erika Horvath said. "I have scars, too."

Horvath fled Hungary for Canada in 1999. His wife and son were granted
refugee status and Canadian immigration authorities in 2004 decided he
faced "more than a mere possibility of persecution" based on his Roma
ethnicity.

As a result, Canada deemed him "a person in need of protection," which
would normally preclude his being returned to Hungary.

However, in response to a Hungarian government request for his
extradition, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson decided he should be sent
to face trial.

In making his decision, Nicholson relied in part on information from
then-immigration minister Monte Solberg, who concluded Horvath did face
a risk of abuse in his homeland. However, Solberg decided Horvath could
rely on state protection in Hungary, and therefore could be extradited.

"It's just ridiculous. It's embarrassing that the Canadian government
could make such a determination," said Ronald Poulton, Horvath's
lawyer.

"If anything happens to him, I'm holding the government of Canada
responsible."

Laszlo Bakos, cultural attache with the Hungarian embassy in Ottawa,
said he didn't have first-hand knowledge of the alleged mistreatment
but added Horvath should have no fear about going back.

"It's not well founded," Bakos said. "There are no torture cases in
Hungary."

Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada gave no reasons in upholding
lower court decisions that the extradition order was lawful. That means
Horvath has exhausted any legal way of remaining in Canada, beyond a
change of heart from the justice minister.

Rather than take his chances with extradition, he skipped bail, and
went underground.

"Every human being would do that, right?" Erika Horvath said.

"Honestly, I don't understand: If someone is getting protection from
the country he's coming from, why do you want to send him back?" she
said.

Horvath has produced court documents that indicate the complainants in
Hungary only made their allegations to avoid their own trouble with
police. There are also new documents suggesting that Hungary requested
extradition on a charge that was never laid.

The family is pleading with Nicholson to end the extradition
proceedings.

"I still have nightmares where the police are beating my family up,"
Adam, who drew a picture four years ago showing a police officer
laughing as he was shooting his dad, wrote to the minister.

"I would be heartbroken for the rest of my life if he is gone."

A Justice Department spokesman said Nicholson would have no comment.

Roma have frequently been persecuted in Europe, with tens of thousands
dying at the hands of the Nazis.

Both the U.S. State Department and Amnesty International have noted
Roma face mistreatment or even torture at the hands of police or
racists.

Poulton, who called the risk of harm to his client in Hungary
"extremely acute," said he's worried about the family.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Take Action: Stop Mr. Horvath’s Forced Removal to Persecution and Cruel
Treatment

1. Call and write Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, ask how Canada can
forcibly return a person in need of protection to the country from
which he needs protection? Ask that the extradition of Adolf Horvath
by halted. (613) 995-1547, Fax: (613) 992-7910, nichor@parl.gc.ca,
Nichor1@parl.gc.ca

2. Call and write Hungarian Embassy (613) 230-2717, PVastagh@kum.hu,
FBanyai@kum.hu, LBakos@kum.hu, and Consulate of Hungary,
hungarian.consulate@bellnet.ca (416) 923-8981.
Politely ask that they communicate to their government your desire to
see them drop the extradition against Adolf Horvath, especially since
the two complainants in the case against Mr. Horvath recanted their
evidence, saying they only made the allegations under police pressure.
PLEASE leave a message if you get the answering machine.

Embassy of the Republic of Hungary
299 Waverley Street, Ottawa, Ontario K2P 0V9
Tel.: (613) 230-2717
Fax: (613) 230-7560

Consulate General of the Republic of Hungary in Toronto
425 Bloor Street East., Suite 501, Toronto, Ontario M4W 3R4
Tel.: (416) 923-8981
Fax: (416) 923-2732
hungarian.consulate@bellnet.ca

Calgary
Honorary consul: Mr. Arthur Szabo
400, 1111 - 11th Avenue SW , Calgary, Alberta, T2R 0G5
Tel.: (403) 229-1111/ # 313
Fax: (403) 245-0569
huconsul@mac.com

Vancouver – Honorary Consulate General
Honorary consul general: Mr. André Molnár
1770 West 7th Ave. Suite 412, Vancouver, BC V6E4P5
Tel: (604) 730-7321
Fax: (604) 730-7339

Vancouver
Honorary consul: Mr. Zoltan Vass
Suite 310 - 885 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C, 1N5
Tel: (1) (604) 909-3750
Fax: (1) (604) 608-1027
E-mail: zvass@tradingpostfinancial.com

Winnipeg – Honorary Consulate
Honorary consul: Mr. Thomas Frohlinger
Suite 301, 204 Kennedy Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 1T1
Telephone: (204) 956-0490;
Fax: (204) 947-3747
frohlinger@pkf-law.com