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Austrian prosecutors want to hand case of 71 dead migrants to Hungary

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian prosecutors want their Hungarian counterparts to take over the case of 71 dead migrants who were found abandoned in a lorry on an Austrian motorway in August, saying their work on the case has more or less been completed. The discovery of the bodies, crowded into the lorry coming from Hungary, set off an international outcry over Europe's often chaotic and sometimes hostile response to the tide of refugees arriving by sea and land from war zones. The refugees appeared to have been dead for up to two days when they were found and fluids from the decomposing bodies were seeping from its door. The Austrian prosecutors said that "after the good progress of the investigation into the discovery of the 71 bodies ... the (Austrian) prosecutors' office ... is seeking to focus the entire criminal proceedings in the hands of the Hungarian judiciary." It added: "The collection of evidence in relation to this case in Austria has essentially been finished or is about to." Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban has gained notoriety for its tough treatment of migrants. On Thursday Amnesty International said the European Commission should launch legal action against Budapest to ensure its respect for the rights of refugees and migrants. "Hungary is effectively transforming itself into a refugee protection-free zone, with blatant disregard for its human rights obligations and the obvious need to work with other EU and Balkan countries to find collective, humane solutions to the current crisis," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International Director for Europe and Central Asia. A government spokesman could not immediately respond to emailed questions for comment. Five arrests have been made in Hungary in connection with the deaths in the lorry, and one in Bulgaria. A European arrest warrant for this man, alleged to have been a driver, has been withdrawn because suspicion against him had significantly decreased, prosecutors in the eastern city of Eisenstadt said. Hungarian prosecutors were not immediately available for comment. Landlocked Hungary has registered over 300,000 illegal migrants crossing its borders this year, most from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, seeking refuge from poverty and war in richer European Union members to the north. Orban's government has erected a steel barrier on its southern border with Serbia and parliament passed laws making illegal crossing of the frontier or damaging the fence a crime, punishable by prison or expulsion. (Reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich; Additional reporting by Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Marton Dunai in Budapest; Writing by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)