To the Honorable Constitutional Court
Budapest
The Honorable Constitutional Court:
We the undersigned petitioners Dr. Beatrix Vissy (…………………..) and Dr. Máté Szabó
(……………..) wish to exercise our right under Section 26 (2) of Act CLI of 2011 on the
Constitutional Court (hereinafter: “Constitutional Court Act”) and lodge a
constitutional complaint
as follows.
The power of a counter-terrorism organization to collect covert intelligence upon citizens
based on a simple ministerial permission but without a court warrant violates our right to
the protection of our privacy, family life, private home, private relations, and personal data
— all rights enshrined in Article VI of the Fundamental Law. The infringement of our
fundamental rights is specifically caused by the following language inserted, by agency of
Section 8 of Act CCVII of 2011, into Section 7/E (3) of Act XXXIV of 1994 on the Police
(hereinafter: “Police Act”):
“by the application, as appropriate, of Sections 53-60 of Act CXXV of 1995 on the
National Security Services (hereinafter: “National Security Act”)” as well as
“…in the course of performing which [the Counter Terrorism Center] shall be entitled, in
accordance with Sections 38-52 of the National Security Act, to request and hold
information. Covert collection of intelligence within the meaning of Section 56 clauses a)e) of the National Security Act shall be authorized by the minister responsible for justice. ”
We respectfully petition that the Constitutional Court annul these passages as being in
conflict with the Fundamental Law.
Bearing in mind that the surveillance authorization of a new organization that is distinct
from the old one is constitutionally problematic in and of itself, we further contend that our
rights under Article VI of the Fundamental Law are also infringed by the conferring of
similar powers upon the national security services. This infringement directly follows from
a similarly unconstitutional passage in Section 58 (1) of Act CXXV on the National
Security Services — namely, “In the course of performing tasks relevant to national
security as specified in Section 5 clauses b), d), and h) to j) and Section 6 clauses d), i),