Hungary to free Syrian involved in 2015 border riots

BUDAPEST, 12 Jan 2019 [Fik/News Sources]: Hungary will release a Syrian man serving prison time over his role in a border riot in 2015, a court spokesman said Friday.

Ahmed H. was convicted for “complicity in an act of terror” and sentenced to seven years in prison. The Szeged Court of Appeals upheld the verdict but reduced his sentence to five years, Laszlo Soros told Hungarian newswire MTI.

He will be released on probation on Jan. 19 after serving a required minimum two-thirds of his five-year term.

In September 2015, Ahmed H. was accused of joining hundreds of other migrants attempting to cross into Hungary from Serbia in throwing stones at Hungarian police.

He was charged after some of the migrants broke the border fence at the Roszke checkpoint and he crossed with them into Hungary.

The Hungarian police used tear gas and water cannon on the crowd.