A Syrian man – known as Ahmed H - convicted of “acts of terror” for leading a riot of migrants that attacked border guards at the Serbia-Hungary border in 2015, has had an appeal trial set for September 20th.
Ahmed H was sentenced in the Szeged Court of Justice in March to seven years in prison and expelled from Hungary for 10 years. The hearing was a retrial after a judge ruled that available evidence had not been assessed properly in the first trial.
The prosecutor’s office appealed the ruling, asking for a longer sentence, while the defense team appealed for a lesser conviction and leniency.
In the first-instance ruling by the Szeged court in November 2016, Ahmed H was sentenced to ten years in prison for terrorist activities involving illegal border crossing as well as incitement to violence in the context of a riot. The court ruled that at least two-thirds of his term must be served before permanent expulsion from the country.