EP votes to uphold immunity of Hungarian opposition leaders

The European Parliament (EP) made a decision on Tuesday, according to which neither Péter Magyar nor Klára Dobrev (both Hungarian opposition politicians) will have their parliamentary immunity lifted, and neither will Ilaria Salis, Green and Left’s Italian MEP, against whom there are pending criminal proceedings in Hungary. This means that the plenary session adopted the recommendations previously drafted by the EP's legal affairs committee.

As we previously pointed out, this decision is not about determining whether or not an MEP is guilty in the case brought against them and the Hungarian authorities will now be notified of the result via the body’s president.

What are the cases against them?

There have been three suspension proceedings initiated against Péter Magyar altogether. EP President Roberta Metsola first announced in October last year that they had received a request to lift Magyar's immunity. Shortly before that, the Hungarian Prosecutor General's Office had issued a statement saying that this had been requested by the Hungarian authorities after Magyar allegedly took someone's cell phone at an entertainment venue and threw it into the Danube.

A second, similar request was announced barely a month later. According to information from EUrologus that is in line with our own, it was former Fidesz politician György Simonka who submitted this one. He had previously said to Népszava that he would be initiating criminal and civil proceedings against Magyar. In response to an earlier inquiry from us, the Prosecutor General's Office stated that the state prosecutor's office had only filed a request in the first case. The legal committee began dealing with these two cases in January.

Then in May, EP president Roberta Metsola announced a third request. Although this happened shortly after Magyar's stock market transactions began to be investigated, the Prosecutor General's Office indicated that they were still in the investigation phase and that they were not the ones who had initiated the third request. In April, László Toroczkai, president of the far-right Mi Hazánk had announced on TikTok in April that they had filed a complaint against Magyar for defamation. They cited the fact that he had referred to them as a satellite party of Fidesz, that he had claimed that Dóra Dúró regularly consults with Máté Kocsis, the leader of the Fidesz faction in the Hungarian parliament, and "said something about us being Russian agents," but the case was suspended due to Magyar's immunity.

Prior to Tuesday’s vote, Péter Magyar had written: "As I indicated earlier, I will accept whatever decision is made today". The president of the Tisza Party added: "I will not be participating in the vote myself, and I have asked the other representatives of TISZA to either abstain or not to press the button. In the face of Fidesz's lies, I cannot give up my immunity. It is up to the Hungarian Parliament to decide on the immunity of Hungarian MPs, and the European Parliament to make decisions on the immunity of MEPs. Everything else is just the usual Fidesz lies."

Shortly after the vote, Orbán reacted to the news in a social media post, saying: “Brussels' immunity laundry is continuing operations. It's now official: In next year's election, Tisza will be running with someone who's been blackmailed by Brussels. What a disgrace!"

As for Dobrev, it was in August last year that Index reported that the Second and Third District Court in Budapest had proposed that Klára Dobrev, an MEP and by now also the president of the Democratic Coalition ( DK) be stripped of her immunity. The reason was that Dobrev had been accused by Gáborné Pölöskei Áder Annamária. The sister of the former head of state, János Áder had initiated criminal proceedings because Dobrev had claimed that she was culpable in the pedophile clemency scandal. Mrs. Pölöskei filed a private case for defamation committed before the public last March after Dobrev had claimed that as department head, Áder's sister had known about the actions of the pedophile director in Bicske but had nothing about them.

"In line with the committee's recommendation, we will vote against the suspension of immunity for all three MEPs," Csaba Molnár of DK wrote on Facebook before the vote. The MEP said: "We agree with the legal committee's reasoning and recommendation. Unfortunately, the judiciary is indeed not independent in Hungary any more." The reasoning is the same in each case: "In Hungary, it can no longer be guaranteed that the authorities will make fair and impartial decisions in the cases of the MEPs, because – as the report also states – the purpose of the proceedings may be politically motivated.

Salis’ case

The European Parliament (EP) plenary session also voted to uphold Ilaria Salis's immunity. The proposal was accepted with 306 votes in favor, 305 against, and 17 abstentions (the latter count as votes that haven’t been cast).

Ilaria Salis is among those suspected by Hungarian authorities of attacking people in Budapest in 2023, who to them appeared to be (because they wore camouflage-colored clothing) supporters of the far-right. The attacks happened on the anniversary of the attempt by Hungarian and German soldiers to break out from being encircled by Russian troops in Budapest at the end of World War II. The event has been commemorated in some form by far-right groups for a while, even though it is officially banned. Salis was arrested last February for committing life-threatening battery as part of a criminal group, and could face up to 11 years in prison in Hungary.

She pleaded not guilty, and no final judgment has yet been handed down against her. She was still held by the Hungarian authorities when she was nominated as a candidate for the EP elections last June by a party belonging to the far-left GUE/NGL faction and ended up being elected.

Following the legal committee's September vote, Salis's faction held a press conference and issued a statement arguing that in their view, the outcome was a strong signal in favor of democracy and the rule of law, and that it was not about justice but about avoiding political persecution.