Hungary Placates EU Parliament Over Fears of Death Penalty Reintroduction

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reaffirmed that his government has no plans to reinstate capital punishment, in response to a warning from Brussels, the European Parliament said in a statement Thursday.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker demanded immediate clarification from Orban, who earlier said that the question of capital punishment should return to the Hungarian agenda. Juncker warned the prime minister against breaching the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

"Prime Minister Orban assured [the European Parliament] President Schulz that the Hungarian government has no plans to take any steps to introduce the death penalty," the statement read.

Orban's statement on the death penalty came after a 21-year-old clerk was brutally murdered in southwestern Hungary, causing wide public condemnation.

Hungary abolished the death penalty in 1990 along with 39 other counties, including Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia and Lithuania. Capital punishment is prohibited in the European Union.