Fidesz's spokesman said on Wednesday that his party "cannot in all honesty feel sorry" for Miklos Hagyo. The former Budapest deputy mayor brought a successful complaint at a European court against the state concerning poor prison conditions.

The European Court of Human Rights in April ordered that 12,500 euros be paid to the former Socialist politician, arrested in May 2010 under suspicion of graft and kept "in a damp and moldering" cell until February the following year. Under the European ruling, the Hungarian state must also pay legal fees amounting to 6,000 euros.
Hagyo claimed serious damage to his health and he argued the pre-trial detention for a full nine months had not been sufficiently justified.
Fidesz spokesman Robert Zsigo said anyone who got involved "in a corrupt criminal organisation in a leading role and carried around cash for blackmail in Nokia phone boxes they would indeed find a prison cell uncomfortable."
"Perhaps the Socialists should not have stolen that much," he added.
As a result of the Strasbourg ruling, the amount that Hungarian people must pay in connection with the former Socialist politician has risen to nearly 2 billion forints (EUR 6.7m), Zsigo said.
According to the chief prosecutor's office, a criminal gang run by Hagyo caused losses of more than 1.49 billion forints to the Budapest public transport company BKV in the period before August 2008.
Hagyo's trial is to resume on Sept. 3 in the town of Kecskemet. (via MTI)