Dog beaten to death - punishment for perpetrators!

To:  Prosecutor of Veszprem Hungary

Stone age in Hungary: dog beaten to death - perpetrators remain unpunished ! (Further details, German and Hungarian text, photos: www.animalife.org

When you cross the Hungarian border you see modern shopping-buildings everywhere, but if you look behind this facade, you feel like being removed into stone age, especially concerning the behavior of people to their animals. Unwanted dogs and cats are abandoned or brought into killing stations to be killed in utmost cruel ways, as neither the Hungarian government nor the local authorities take efforts to solve the stray dog problem in a humane way. But as we had to recognize during our 12 years lasting animal welfare work in Hungary, many people get rid of their dogs merely by beating them to death. Rather often we discovered the cadavers of dogs in bushes and underwood showing traces of terrible tortures caused by their murderers. But people living in the surroundings and often knowing the poor victims and even the names of their murderers always used to pretend that they had seen and heard nothing. This is the reason why we mostly cannot find out the identity of the perpetrators of such crimes and why we cannot go to court.

Until finally on February 18th 2008 a poor homeless dog abandoned in the village of Mihalyhaza near Pápa was beaten to death by two men, who did this – so they confirmed – on demand of the mayor of the village of Mihalyhaza. They caught the dog and dragged him on a rope they had put around his neck to the cemetery, hung him there onto a tree and beat him with a stick, until the poor animal was bleeding out of his mouth, ears and eyes and out of many wounds. Half dead they threw the dog into a crypt.
A man passing by witnessed these men whom he knew as inhabitants of the village torturing the poor animal to death, then disappearing with the dog and reappearing without the dog. Unusually courageous compared to most other Hungarian people who would watch such brutalities without taking any action, he went to investigate and found the severely injured animal thrown into a crypt. He called the animal welfare organization of Papa, took the still living dog out of the crypt and brought him to a vet, but the vet could only shorten the death struggle of the poor immensely suffering little dog by euthanizing him. His skull, nose bone and the roof of his mouth were broken in many places and bleeding was suspected even inside the brain. Deeply concerned the vet took photos of the dog before he was put to sleep and afterwards to show how unnaturally his nose could be bended as it had been broken several times. More photos were taken during the autopsy, so all evidence of the nature of the injuries are preserved.

Read an excerpt of the autopsy report:

“On the middle section of the nose, under the skin was a haematoma (bleeding) of the size of half a fist and a large amount of blood flowed from the nostrils and the mouth. A whistling and a gurgling sound was heard with the breathing. The inner film of the left eye was heavily bloodshot, and both eyes were porcelain-white. Touching the back of the nose or the muzzle the animal showed signs of strong pain, and opening the mouth caused a defending reaction. At opening the mouth, the front half of the maxilla (upper jaw bone), the bone of the nose and the hard inner roof of the mouth moved in an abnormal way and made a sound of broken bones.
Both left and right canine teeth, the first molars and a part of the alveoli (the channel of teeth) broke away and bent away abnormally. I suggested an overdose of narcosis because of the severe clinical status, the collapse of circulation, and the severity of the injuries.

Autopsy findings confirmed the findings of the clinical examination and showed much, partly clotted blood in the mouth and nasal cavities. The hard roof of the mouth was diagonally broken at the first third, and could be turned out at an abnormal angle. Both left and right canine teeth, the first molars, and a part of the alveoli broke away and bent away abnormally from their normal anatomical position by several centimeters. The first half of the nose together with the hard roof of the mouth could easily be moved to an abnormal position. A haematoma of the size of half a fist was found in connective tissue on the back of the nose. The top and the right size of the nose bone had a splintered fracture of ca. 2x4 cm, making a gaping hole. The bone splinters were found in the nasal cavity. At examining the abdomen, in the bowels, the liver and the kidneys also a significant amount of blood collected…
Diagnosis: Trauma by a blunt instrument causing splintered, significant disruption of tissue of nose bone, break to maxilla, diagonal break in several pieces to hard roof of the mouth, break of alveoli, breaking out of teeth, acute and severe circulatory insufficiency, probable concussion, brain hemorrhage, contusion and cerebral oedema.

Prognosis: The dog would have needed immediate surgery due to the place and severity of the trauma, which however would have had a very bad likely outcome - due to the severe state of shock, the likelihood of infections after surgery, and the necessity of artificial feeding.

Opinion: The dog was injured with a blunt instrument. The amount of trauma received made survival practically impossible.“

The man who had eye-witnessed this act of brutality and had brought the dying dog to the vet, offered to be an eye witness in court. The identity of both dog murderers was found out soon. Pápa TV had a report on the cruelty case. Before the TV show, the Mayor of Mihályháza called the TV station trying to stop the program going out! Another reason to suspect that he put the two perpetrators up to killing the animal.

But after having waited in vain for 4 months for the legal procedure to take place the Prosecutor’s Office of Papa has finally written and does NOT want to start proceedings against the known people, who had beaten the poor dog to death at Mihályháza on February 18th 2008. It is this office, which decides if after a Police investigation a case should go to Court or not. This prosecutor only gave an order for 1 year to prove “good behaviour” for the two perpetrators and for the Mayor of Mihályháza, according to the two perpetrators the instigator (the brain behind the terrible act) !

This decision is a scandal! We demand punishment for this horrendous crime!

The animal welfare organization of Pápa has appealed against the decision.
Many people sent letters of protest to the County Prosecutor
Dr. Fejes Péter 8200 Veszprém e-mail: ves.fou@mku.hu
and to the email-addresses of local newspapers and TV-channels:
szerkesztoseg@naplo.plt.hu papailap@globonet.hu vtvpapa@vtvpapa.hu szerk@mno.hu szerkesztoseg@nepszabadsag.hu napkozben@radio.hu kronika@radio.hu videk@hirtv.net hirado@mtv.hu info@dunatv.hu tenyek@tv2.hu fokusz@rtl.hu magyar@narancs.hu; alkutya@gmail.com

with the result that the case is at least taken to court.

We demand punishment for the perpetrators and for the probable instigator!

Dear Sir,
a poor dog who did no harm to anybody was just searching for leftovers of food in the village of Mihályháza near Papa. Obviously he was abandoned there by his owners. Without any reason on February 18th 2008 he was caught and was beaten to death by two men, who did this – so they confirmed – on demand of the mayor of the village of Mihalyhaza. They tied the dog with a rope and dragged him to the cemetery, hung him there onto a tree and beat him with a stick, until the poor animal was bleeding out of his mouth, ears and eyes and out of many wounds all over his body. Half dead they threw the dog into a crypt.
A man passing by witnessed these men torturing the poor animal to death, then disappearing with the dog and reappearing without him. Unusually courageous compared to most other people who would watch such brutalities without taking any action, he went to investigate and found the severely injured animal thrown into a crypt. He called the animal welfare organization of Papa and took the still living dog out of the crypt and brought him to a vet, but the vet could only shorten the death struggle of the poor immensely suffering little dog by euthanizing him. His skull, nose bone and the roof of his mouth were broken in many places and bleeding was later discovered even inside the brain, in the bowels, the liver and the kidneys. See autopsy report and photos taken by the vet before putting the dog to sleep and afterwards. Many more photos were taken during the autopsy, so all evidence of the nature of the injuries are preserved .

Torturing an animal to death in such a brutal way is even forbidden in the Hungarian animal welfare law. The considered penalty is two years imprisonment, certainly not enough for such despicable persons, but at least a punishment at all.

It is absurd and deeply upsetting that Mr. Marton decided that this case of utmost cruelty against a poor harmless animal should not even be taken to court and that no proceedings are to be started against the known perpetrators, who had beaten the poor dog to death at Mihályháza. Dr. Marton only gave an order for 1 year to “prove good behaviour” for the two perpetrators and for the Mayor of Mihályháza, according to the two perpetrators the instigator (the brain behind the terrible act) !
Hungary is a member of the European Union and you can be sure that nobody in the Western European Countries will accept this decision. The fact that Dr. Marton seems to tolerate such a horrendous crime as something unimportant not even punishable provokes indignation and protest all over Europe and even all over the world.
I/we protest strongly against this decision and demand urgently that this case of torturing to death a harmless dog by two men as well as by the Mayor of Mihályháza as the probable instigator of this crime in the background is taken to court and that the two perpetrators and the probable instigator will be punished!

Dear Sir, we count on your help!
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(Signature)


Hungarian:

Tisztelt Főügyész Úr!

Volt egy szerencsétlen kutya, aki nem bántott senkit, csak ételmaradékot keresett Mihályháza utcáin, hogy enni tudjon. Nyilvánvalóan egykori gazdái otthagyták. 2008. február 18-án minden ok nélkül két férfi halálra verte őt a polgármester utasítására. Elkapták a kutyát, kötelet akasztottak a nyakába, kivonszolták a temetőbe, ott felakasztották egy fára majd egy husánggal ütni kezdték, amíg szerencsétlen állat orrán, száján, fülén dőlni kezdett a vér és az egész testét sebesülések borították. A félhalott kutyát végül bedobták egy kriptába. Egy arra járó férfi, felismerte a két helybelit, és látta, hogy vonszolják magukkal a kutyát, eltűnnek, majd az állat nélkül térnek vissza. Ez a férfi, eltérve attól a Magyarországon megszokott hozzáállástól, hogy tétlenül nézik az ilyen brutális tetteket, a nyomok után indult. Végül megtalálta a súlyosan sérült állatot a kriptába dobva. Azonnal értesítette a pápai állatvédőket és orvoshoz rohant a még életben lévő kutyával. Az állatorvos azonban már csak a szenvedéseit tudta megrövidíteni a sérülései miatt sokkos állapotban lévő állatnak, elaltatta, hogy ne szenvedjen tovább. A kutya koponyája, orrcsontja, szájpadlása több helyen eltört, valamint koponyaűri és egyéb belsővérzése is volt a belekben, a májon és a veséiben. Nézze meg a boncolási jegyzőkönyvet, és az elaltatás előtt illetve után készült fényképeket. A boncolás közben készült számos fotó bizonyítékként őrzi a sérülések jellegét.
Egy állat ily módon történő halálba kínzását egyértelműen tiltja a magyar állatvédelmi törvény. A kiszabható büntetés 2 év szabadságvesztés, ami természetesen nem elegendő ilyen alávaló személyeknek, de legalább valamiféle megtorlás.
Képtelenség és mélységesen felháborító, hogy Dr. Marton István a Pápai Városi Ügyészség vezető ügyésze úgy döntött, hogy egy ártalmatlan állat ellen Mihályházán elkövetett különösen kegyetlen bántalmazás ügyében 1 évvel elhalasztja a vádemelést a gyanúsítottak ellen, és pusztán pártfogó felügyelet alá helyezi őket.
Magyarország az Európai Unió tagja. és biztos lehet abban, hogy a nyugat-európai országokban senki nem fogadja el ezt a döntést. Az a tény, hogy Dr. Marton István vezető ügyész eltűr egy ilyen szörnyű bűncselekményt és nem is tartja büntetendőnek ez felháborodást és tiltakozást provokál Európa és világszerte.
Határozottan tiltakozom a vezető ügyész döntése ellen, továbbá sürgősen követelem, hogy egy ártalmatlan állat ellen Mihályházán elkövetett különösen kegyetlen bántalmazás ügyében emeljen vádat mindegyik gyanúsított ellen és vigye bíróság elé az ügyet!

Tisztelt Főügyész Úr, számítunk az Ön segítségére!


__________________________
aláírás

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Dog beaten to death - punishment for perpetrators! Petition to Prosecutor of Veszprem Hungary was created by Animal Life and written by dolores ozimic (animal_life@chello.at).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.