Hungary’s parliament has lifted the immunity from prosecution for Prime Minister Peter Magyar and two former ministers from Viktor Orban’s government. This decision allows for investigations into various allegations against them.
The vote, which passed 139-0, removed the protections for Magyar, former Culture and Innovation Minister Balazs Hanko, and former National Development Minister Miklos Sesztak. Lawmakers from Orban’s Fidesz party and its ally, the Christian Democratic People’s Party, abstained from the vote.
Magyar, who leads the centre-right Tisza party and came to power in April, had requested that his immunity be lifted. Prosecutors are looking into an incident from 2024, where Magyar is accused of taking a mobile phone from a man filming him in a Budapest nightclub and throwing it into the Danube.
Hanko is under investigation for the alleged misuse of public funds from Hungary’s National Cultural Fund, with claims that public money was improperly used in over 1,000 cases, leading to losses of 17.3 billion forints (€44.5 million). Hanko has denied the allegations.
Sesztak faces separate inquiries related to alleged bribes concerning contracts with the state-owned bus company Volanbusz.
Magyar defeated Orban in the April elections, promising to investigate corruption and abuses of power during Orban’s 16-year tenure.
