WEEK 3: Refrgees

Camerawoman Who Kicked Refugees in Hungary Is Charged With ‘Breach of Peace’

LONDON — A camerawoman who was captured on video kicking and attempting to trip migrants near the Hungary-Serbia border in the fall was charged on Wednesday with “breach of peace,” Hungarian prosecutors said, adding that her actions had not been motivated by bias or racism.

Footage of the camerawoman, Petra Laszlo, who was filming migrants as they were being chased by police officers, spread quickly on social media, adding to Hungary’s reputation for hostility toward the thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Asia.

The charge, breach of peace, is defined in Hungarian law as antisocial, violent behavior capable of inciting indignation or alarm, and it carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison unless there are aggravating circumstances.

Ms. Laszlo was carrying a camera and wearing a surgical mask in September 2015 when she kicked two migrants and then awkwardly threw out her leg toward a man later identified as Osama Abdul Mohsen, a Syrian refugee, who was holding his child.

According to an indictment released by the chief prosecutor in the county of Csongrad in southern Hungary, however, she did not make contact with Mr. Mohsen and he fell as he “wrenched himself out from the grip” of a police officer.

The evidence did not suggest that Ms. Laszlo could have caused injury, the indictment said, and there was nothing to indicate that she was motivated by “ethnic considerations” or “by the migrant status of the victims.”

Ms. Laszlo apologized but has maintained that she was used as a tool to vilify Hungary’s attitude toward migrants. She was also immediately fired by her employer, N1TV, a channel affiliated with the far right.

“We are faced with a modern European folk tale,” she told the weekly Heti Valasz after the incident. “On one side is the Nazi witch, on the other the anguished asylum seeker, who has a furnished home waiting for him in Spain and whose child is passing with Cristiano Ronaldo,” she said, referring to the welcome Mr. Mohsen received in Spain after the story spread. Ms. Laszlo also repeated unfounded accusations that Mr. Mohsen was a member of a terrorist organization.

It was unclear whether Ms. Laszlo, who has been avoiding publicity since the episode, would appear in court. A date for the trial has not yet been established.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/world/europe/hungarian-journalist-syrian-refugee.html?_r=0

WHO: a camerawoman

WHERE: near the Hungary-Serbia border

WHEN: September 2015

WHAT: a camerawoman kicked and attempted to trip migrants

attempt (v.)a person that travels to a different country or place, often in order to find work
移民，遷徙的動物
migrant (n.) a person that travels to a different country or place, often in order to find work
移民，遷徙的動物
reputation (n.) the opinion that people in general have about someone or something, or how much respect or admiration someone or something receives, based on past behavior or character
名譽；聲望；名望
prosecutor (n.) a legal official who accuses someone of committing a crime, especially in a law court
檢察官；公訴人
wrench (v.) to pull and twist something suddenly or violently away from its position
猛拉；猛扭；猛扯
affiliate (v.) to cause a group to become part of or form a close relationship with another, usually larger, group, or organization
使併入，使隸屬（較大的團體或組織）；使緊密聯繫
surgical (adj.) used for medical operations
（外科）手術用的
episode (n.)  a single event or group of related events
事件；（相關的）一連串事件；一段經歷
anguish (n.) extreme unhappiness caused by physical or mental suffering
（肉體或精神上的）極度痛苦，劇痛，悲痛
indictment (n.) a sign that a policy, system, society, etc. is bad or wrong
控訴；譴責