Camerawoman Petra László caused outrage when she kicked child running from disturbance close to Serbian border in 2015

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A Hungarian television camerawoman who was filmed tripping and kicking migrants fleeing police has been found guilty of breaching the peace.

A judge in Szeged, southern Hungary, said the actions of Petra László triggered “indignation and outrage”, and rejected her defence lawyer’s argument that she was trying to protect herself.

The judge found her guilty and sentenced her to three years’ probation. If she does not reoffend during that period the conviction will be dropped.

In television footage which sparked global outrage, László can be seen tripping up a man sprinting with a child in his arms, and kicking another running child near the town of Röszke, close to the border with Serbia.

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It later emerged that the camerawoman, who was fired over her actions, had been working for N1TV, an internet-based television station close to Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party.

The incident on 8 September 2015 occurred as hundreds of migrants broke through a police line at a collection point close to the Serbian border. “I turned and saw several hundred people charging toward me; it was quite incredibly frightening,” she said.

László said she had received death threats after the incident and took part in the hearing in Szeged via a video link from a courtroom in Budapest.

Occasionally breaking into tears, she told the court that she had been subjected to a “hate campaign” since the incident.

She “terribly regretted” what happened at Röszke, and said that her life had been “derailed” by what happened.

Both the prosecutor, who sought the maximum penalty of a stiff fine, and László’s defence lawyer who asked for acquittal, said they would appeal the verdict.

László told a Russian newspaper in 2015 that she planned to move with her family to Russia after the case ended as she no longer felt safe in Hungary.

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In 2015, thousands of migrants crossed into Hungary each day as the country, a southern gateway into the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone, became a temporary hotspot of the migration crisis.

A week after the incident, Hungarian soldiers completed the closure of the 175km (110 mile) border with a fence reinforced with razor wire.

Over 400,000 migrants passed through Hungary in 2015 bound for western Europe, but the number plummeted after the border was sealed off.

The Syrian man tripped up by László was later given a job by a Spanish football coaching school, while his son ran with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo on to the pitch in Madrid before a match.