Woman cleared in migrants fracas

Cameraman was filmed trying to trip up refugees

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY • Hungary’s highest court has acquitted a camerawoman who was filmed kicking and trying to trip migrants on the border with Serbia in 2015.

The woman was holding a camera in the middle of a crowd of police officers and migrants, apparently on assignment for her news outlet. But a fellow journalist caught her on camera kicking a young girl who was trying to flee amid the crowd. In another shot, as a father holding a bag in one arm and his young son in the other ran past her, she stuck her foot out, causing them to trip and fall to the ground.

The father and son were identified as Syrian refugees. The father, Osama Abdul Mohsen, told Spanish newspaper El Mundo at the time that “the journalist’s kick was scary and hard.”

Footage of the incident, which took place as a large number of asylum seekers were seeking safe haven in Europe, went viral. The woman was identified as Petra Laszlo, a Hungarian camerawoman; her news outlet, the right-wing N1TV channel, fired her. She was later sentenced to three years probation for disorderly conduct.

N1TV released a statement at the time saying that a “colleague behaved unacceptably at the Roeszke reception center. The cameraman’s employment was terminated with immediate effect.”

But Hungary’s top court acquitted Laszlo on Tuesday, ruling that while her behaviour was “morally incorrect and illicit,” it did not amount to criminal activity.

Overturning two lower court decisions, the supreme court, the Kuria, said Laszlo should have been charged with a misdemeanour instead of a criminal offence.

It said the case had to be terminated now since the statute of limitations had expired.

Mohsen and his son eventually reached Spain, where they were granted asylum — and a visit with the Real Madrid soccer team, thanks to the attention Laszlo’s behaviour had garnered.

“In Syria we dreamed of seeing a Real Madrid match, and now that’s going to come true,” he said in 2015 after inviting him to a game. “I’m really happy.”