Dr Ágnes Geréb Arrested a Year Ago and Still Under House Arrest

Dr Ágnes Geréb, the Hungarian homebirth midwife, is the victim of inadequacies inherent in the Hungarian system of criminal procedures.

In the morning of the 5^th of October the Hungarian Lawyer’s Chamber hosted an informal press meeting. János Bánáti, Dr Geréb’s attorney, president of the Hungarian Lawyer’s Chamber, pointed out that the current house arrest of Dr Geréb is the result of the Hungarian legal system that sometimes automatically imprisons Hungarian citizens if she is a criminal suspect. “The case of Dr Geréb clearly shows that subjects of the criminal procedures may not only be criminals.” Dr Bánáti said. Dr Molnár added that Dr Geréb has not been addressed or interrogated by Hungarian authorities since Dec, 2010.

Gabriella Varró introduced the outcomes of the first comprehensive research on homebirth in Hungary. A woman whose baby was hospitalized after a normal, physiological homebirth was also present. She said she did not understand the reason why Dr Geréb is accused of any crime since both she and her baby are fine and healthy and the baby’s hospitalization was independent of the birth place).

Despite the fact that homebirth regulations were passed on April 1^st ,2011, currently no midwife has yet received her license – having or assisting homebirths without it is presently illegal for everybody. “Our work is focused on creating space for undisturbed birth and we are not against Hungarian obstetricians; they have their own problems themselves.” said Dr Bánáti.

Following the press meeting hundreds of homebirth supporters demonstrated for the freedom of Dr Geréb and for the right to undisturbed birth. They placed white flowers on a hillside by the Buda castle that read: FREE GERÉB. The letter of Ilona Ékes, a Hungarian MP was presented. She underlined women’s right to choose the location of their birth and pointed out that Dr Geréb’s case is a women’s rights issue. A letter by Dr Geréb was also presented: she listed a few serious professional mistakes medical experts, all of them obstetricians working in hospitals, committed when preparing the documents on the criminalized birth cases for the trial.

Demonstrators cheered the right to a free birth choice, the establishment of an independent Board of Midwives and the immediate release of Dr Geréb.

For further information please contact:

Donal Kerry

International Spokesperson

mobile: +36-30-924-2190

or: Gabriella Nagy

mobile: +36-572-2506

Freebirth Support Group

Budapest, Hungary

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