Camerawoman who kicked migrants in Hungary acquitted by court
Petra Laszlo was filmed tripping a migrant carrying his son then kicking another child running away from police.
Wednesday 31 October 2018 00:01, UK
A camerawoman who tripped and kicked migrants fleeing from police in Hungary has been acquitted by the country's supreme court.
Petra Laszlo made headlines around the world in 2015 when she tripped up a man who was sprinting with a child in his arms.
She then kicked another running child near the town of Roszke, close to the Serbian border - which was all caught on camera.
A large group of migrants had broken through a Hungarian police line at a time when thousands of migrants were making their way into Europe.
"The video reporter was acquitted owing to the lack of a violation," a court statement said after judges ruled that Ms Laszlo had not been correctly charged by lower courts.
Hungary's supreme court said it considered the context of "an assault by several hundred migrants fleeing a police intervention".
It said Ms Laszlo's act "while morally incorrect and illicit, was a disruption, not vandalism".
The court's decision turns over that of lower courts who sentenced her in January 2017 to three year probation for vandalism.
Ms Laszlo was fired for her actions by N1TV, an internet-based TV station close to Hungary's far-right Jobbik party.
"I turned and saw several hundred people charging toward me, it was quite incredibly frightening," she said.
The Syrian father that she tripped and his son obtained asylum in Spain, where the father landed a job with a football coaching school.
His son ran with Cristiano Ronaldo onto the pitch in Madrid before a match.