Hungarian Helsinki Committee

All of this while back in Gruevski's home country, things are in flux as well. Gruevski's conservative VMRO DPMNE party, which under his rule was widely accused of "capturing the state institutions" including the judiciary, is now in a serious position to take on the pro-European Social Democratic leader Zoran Zaev, who toppled Gruevski back in 2017.

Frontex's decision followed the Hungarian government's non-compliance with the latest judgement from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that ruled "pushbacks" at the Hungarian-Serbian border were unlawful, Frontex spokesperson Chris Borowski told hvg.hu.

The unexpected move would mean giving up the ability to rule by decree without a time limit — part of a controversial "coronavirus bill" that opponents said also threatened to stifle media independence.

A former Turkish judge was shortlisted for the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize 2017, alongside two others from Austria and Hungary. 

Murat Arslan, who has been under arrest since 2016, is described by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as "a well-known and reputed judge."