SPECIAL PART
CHAPTER XIV
WAR CRIMES

Illegal Recruitment

Section 146
(1) Any attempt to recruit personnel in the territory of Hungary for military service - other than for any allied forces -, paramilitary service in a foreign armed body, or any mediation of volunteers for such service shall be construed a felony punishable by imprisonment between one to five years.
(2) Any Hungarian citizen who voluntarily joins or offers to join any foreign armed body - other than the allied forces - that is involved in an armed conflict (national or international), or who participates in training in such an armed body shall be punishable in accordance with Subsection (1).
(3) Any person who recruits or mediates persons under the age of eighteen years in the territory of Hungary for military service, paramilitary service in a foreign armed body, or any mediation of volunteers for such service shall be punishable by imprisonment between two to eight years.

Breach of Armistice

Section 147
(1) Any person who breaches the conditions of armistice is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between one to five years.
(2) The penalty shall be imprisonment between five to ten years if the infringement of the armistice leads to particularly grave consequences.

Assault Against a War Emissary

Section 148
(1) Any person who abuses, illegally restrains the war emissary of the enemy or his companion, or otherwise applies violence against him is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment not exceeding three years, insofar as the act did not result in a more serious criminal offense.
(2) Any person who kills a war emissary or his companion shall be punishable by imprisonment between ten to twenty years or with life imprisonment.


Assault on Protected Persons

Section 149
(1) Any person who in time of war:
a) runs an offensive against protected persons;
b) runs an offensive which causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury to protected persons, where this is deemed manifestly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated; is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between ten to twenty years or with life imprisonment.
(2) Any person who in time of war:
a) murders a protected person;
b) forces a protected person to live under conditions threatening the demise of the protected
person;
c) forces a protected person to commit or tolerate sexual violence, forces a protected person
into prostitution, or to bear a child or into illegal abortion;
d) deprives a protected person of his personal freedom;
e) orders the displacement of protected person from their rightful place of residence, or abducts
protected persons, except where justified for military reasons; is punishable by imprisonment between ten to twenty years or with life imprisonment.
(3) Any person who in time of war violates the right of self-determination of protected persons concerning medical procedures, or who causes serious bodily or mental injury to protected persons is punishable by imprisonment between five to fifteen years.
(4) Any person who in time of war denies access to the right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial for a protected person or a group of protected persons is punishable by imprisonment between two to eight years.
(5) Any person who engages in preparations for the criminal act referred to in Subsection (1) or (2) is punishable by imprisonment between one to five years.

Command to Liquidate Survivors

Section 150
Any person who in time of war gives an instruction or command to leave no survivors alive is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between one to five years, insofar as the act did not result in a more serious criminal offense.

Human Shield

Section 151
(1) Any person who uses a protected person for the purpose of defending a specific area or military force from the enemy’s military operations is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between five to ten years.
(2) Any person who engages in preparations for the criminal offense referred to in Subsection (1) is punishable by imprisonment between one to five years.

Unlawful Enlistment

Section 152
(1) Any person who:
a) forces a protected person to serve in the armed forces or armed bodies of a hostile power that is known to him as the enemy,
b) forces any national of a hostile power to partake in military operations against his own
nation, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between five to ten years.
(2) Any person who engages in preparations for the criminal offense referred to in Subsection
(1) hereof is punishable by imprisonment between one to five years.
(3) Any person who recruits or enlists a person under the age of eighteen years for the armed forces or armed bodies, or persuades such person to participate in war, or provides the means necessary for committing the said criminal offense or facilitating thereof, is punishable by imprisonment between five to fifteen years.

Assault on Protected Property

Section 153
(1) Any person who in time of war launches an attack on or assaults an establishment that is not recognized as a military objective and is therefore not protected by the military, that results in losses in such unprotected establishment, or is likely to result in extensive, prolonged and severe damage to the natural environment which would be deemed manifestly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between two to eight years.
(2) The penalty shall be imprisonment between five to ten years if the assault is directed against:
a) hospitals or any similar establishments for the treatment or placement of patients and
casualties, or
b) cultural goods protected under international treaty.
(3) Any person who uses or utilizes cultural goods protected under international treaty, or the immediate surroundings thereof in support of military action, or makes such goods the object of theft, pillage, destruction or vandalism shall be punishable in accordance with Subsection (2).
(4) The penalty shall be imprisonment between five to fifteen years if the criminal offense referred to in Paragraph b) of Subsection (2) or in Subsection (3) is committed in connection with cultural goods placed under special or enhanced protection by international treaty, or the immediate surroundings thereof.
(5) For the purposes of this Section:
a) ‘cultural goods’ shall mean the cultural goods defined in Article 1 of the Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict signed in the Hague on 14 May
1954, and promulgated by Law-Decree No. 14 of 1957;
b) ‘cultural goods under special protection’ shall mean the cultural property defined in Article 8
of the Convention referred to in Paragraph a);
c) ‘cultural goods under enhanced protection’ shall mean the cultural property defined in Article 10 of the Second Protocol to the Convention referred to in Paragraph a), promulgated by Act XXIX of 2006.

War-Time Looting

Section 154
(1) Any person who, in a theater of operations or occupied territory:
a) engages in looting the property of civilians;
b) deprives the people of its own means of subsistence by way of the coercion of services or by
other means, except where justified for military reasons; is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between one to five years, insofar as the act did not result in a more serious criminal offense.
(2) Any person who loots the fallen, injured or sick on the battlefield is punishable by imprisonment between two to eight years.

Use of Weapons Prohibited by International Convention

Section 155
(1) Any person who uses or orders the use of a weapon or instrument of warfare prohibited by international convention in a theater of military operations or in an occupied territory is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between ten to twenty years or life imprisonment.
(2) Any person who engages in preparations for the criminal act referred to in Subsection (1) is punishable by imprisonment between one to five years.

Assault Against a Humanitarian Organization

Section 156
Any person who runs an offensive against the staff, equipment, means, units or vehicles of a humanitarian organization, relief or peacekeeping organizations operating in time of war within the framework of the United Nations and in accordance with its Charter, if they are entitled to protection granted under international law in the event of armed conflict to protected persons and establishments is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between five to ten years.

Criminal Offenses with Internationally Protected Signs and Marks

Section 157
Any person who in time of war misuses the sign of the red cross, red crescent or red crystal, or other signs serving a similar purpose and recognized internationally is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment between one to five years, insofar as the act did not result in a more serious criminal offense.

Other War Crimes

Section 158
Other war crimes and the penalties for such crimes are governed in Decree No. 81/1945 (II. 5.) ME, enacted into law by Act VII of 1945 and amended and supplemented by Decree No. 1440/1945 (V. 1.) ME.