5.  The applicants were born in 1947 and 1975 respectively and live in Budapest. 6.  On 15 February 2006 the first applicant was interrogated as a suspect on charges of tax fraud. On 5 February 2008 the second applicant was interrogated as a suspect on charges of tax fraud in connection with the same criminal proceedings. 7.  On 13 May 2008 the Budapest IX District Public Prosecutor’s Office preferred a bill of indictment against both applicants and two other co-accused charging them with tax fraud, a conduct punishable under section 310 (1) of the Criminal Code, and other related crimes, including fraud and forgery of private documents. 8.  The Pest Central District Court held a first hearing on 6 April 2011, when the four defendants gave evidence. The next hearing was scheduled for 1 September 2011. On that occasion the District Court took the evidence of six witnesses. 9.  Two further hearings were held on 2 December 2011 and 4 April 2012.
The District Court adopted a judgment on 4 April 2012 finding the applicants guilty as charged. It fined the first applicant 600,000 Hungarian forints (HUF – approximately 2,000 euros (EUR)) and the second applicant HUF 300,000 (approximately EUR 1,000). Since none of the accused or the Public Prosecutor appealed, the District Court confined its reasoning to the statement of the facts and the applied legal provisions. The judgment was served on the applicants on 30 May 2012.