Hungarian Parliament Lifts Immunity for Prime Minister Péter Magyar Amid Allegations
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, Hungary‘s parliament voted on Monday to lift the parliamentary immunity of three lawmakers, including Prime Minister Péter Magyar. The move allows for potential prosecution in cases that have drawn significant political attention.
Prime Minister Magyar is accused of taking a man’s mobile phone and throwing it into the Danube River during an altercation at a nightclub in June 2024. This incident occurred nearly two years before his party secured a decisive victory in elections, unseating the country’s right-wing former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Magyar has denied the allegation of theft, characterizing the case, which cites damages of just over $300, as politically motivated. He has also criticized prosecutors for seeking to lift his immunity concurrently with two former ministers from the Orbán era, who face accusations of embezzling tens of millions of dollars in public funds and receiving millions in bribes.
Speaking to lawmakers before the vote, Magyar stated, “I have committed no crime and I accept full responsibility for all my actions.”
Parliamentary immunity for legislators, a common practice in European democracies, is designed to protect representatives from political persecution, enabling them to perform their duties and express themselves freely without fear of arrest or government lawsuits.
The previous Hungarian government, led by Orbán, had previously attempted to revoke Magyar’s immunity when he was a Member of the European Parliament, but the institution rejected these requests multiple times.
On Monday, Hungarian MPs also voted to suspend the immunity of two former Orbán government ministers. They are separately suspected of criminal mismanagement of 17.3 billion Forints, equivalent to $53.6 million, in public funds and of receiving over 12 billion Forints, equivalent to $37.2 million, in bribes and illegal payments.
These cases involve some of the highest-ranking officials from the Orbán administration who are now accused of criminal activity within Magyar’s new government. These investigations are part of a broader government effort to uncover what officials describe as years of widespread fraud and theft of public resources during the Orbán era.
None of the lawmakers whose immunity has been lifted have yet been formally prosecuted or indicted.
