A kínzás és más kegyetlen, embertelen, megalázó büntetés vagy bánásmód tilalma az emberi jogok rendszerében

Torture was generally accepted in the criminal procedures in the majority of European states until the middle of the 18th century. In addition to the prohibition of torture, other cruel, inhuman, degrading punishments or treatments came into the focus of international law only after the World War II. Nowadays, this absolute and unrestricted human right includes an extensive international legal framework. The first part of the study introduces the main elements of international regulation. After the Universal Declaration of Human Rights /1948/ by the UN, the humanitarian international law for the protection of the victims of war, Geneva Convention /1949/, outlined those human rights for the first time, which shall be respected even in case of the most severe international conflicts. The next two chapters of this paper focus on the UN and European system against torture. Since the UN documents provide only the definition of torture, that part of the study, which defines the inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment under the European Court of Human Rights case law, became very important. Such case law is highly significant because the Constitutional Court of Hungary heavily relies on it in the interpretation of the Hungarian constitutional rules. The last part of this paper provides a short introduction on the development of the Hungarian regulation regarding the topic at hand. In 1989, the Constitution of Hungary implemented the text of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights /1966/, whereas the currently effective Fundamental Law of Hungary used the Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights /Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms /1950/