The criminal panel of the Szeged Regional Court of Appeal led by Judge Erik Mezőlaki partially modified the first instance judgement delivered by the Szeged Regional Court in the case of Y. I. for the felony of possession of narcotic drugs.

Taking into account that the Turkish defendant does not speak Hungarian, his imprisonment is being executed away from his home, and these circumstances place a burden on him that is higher than the average, the Regional Court of Appeal prescribed the sentence to be served in a correctional institution instead of a penitentiary.

The term of the punishment remained, the conclusive sentence being 10 years of imprisonment to be served in a correctional institution and 10 years of expulsion from the territory of Hungary.

The reasoning referred to the fact that the defendant had tried to import a particularly substantial quantity of narcotic drugs, for which his penalty shall be imprisonment for five to fifteen years under the Criminal Code. The first instance court was right when it applied the median of the prescribed scale of penalties, which in this case was 10 years, therefore the Regional Court of Appeal did not see any reason to reduce the term of the punishment.

About the criminal offence

At 22:30 on 10 February 2014, the defendant from Istanbul, who was in the jewellery business before his arrest, tried to enter the territory of Hungary from the direction of Romania as the passenger of a Turkish van. The officers of the Hungarian tax authority stationed at the border inspected the van, and found 30 pieces of dust containing heroin, weighing about half a kilogram each, a total of 16.0412 grams, and a net of 14.083 grams, which the defendant has tried to import to the territory of Hungary in a travelling bag. The basic volume of heroin in the dust was 6.160 grams, which exceeded the limit of the particularly substantial quantity (it was 51.3 times more).

The defendant was aware of the fact that his travelling bag contained drugs, which he wished to take to Western Europe, and he would have received 5.000 euros for his job as a supplier.

About the first instance judgement

On 2 October 2014, the Szeged Regional Court found the defendant (born in 1970, residing in Istanbul, a Turkish citizen) guilty in the felony of possession of a particularly substantial quantity of narcotic drugs, and sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment to be served in a penitentiary and 10 years of expulsion from the territory of Hungary.

The prosecutor accepted the first instance judgement, while the defendant and his counsel lodged an appeal for the reduction of the term of the punishment, therefore the case was sent to the Szeged Regional Court of Appeal.