Magyar faces the prosecutors he empowered

Hungary's parliament voted on 28 September to suspend the immunity of Prime Minister Péter Magyar and two ministers who served under Viktor Orbán, each time by 139 votes to none (24.hu, Infostart). Orbán's Fidesz and its junior partner KDNP stayed away, so the tally reflects the governing side alone (DW). Magyar's majority has opened its own leader to prosecutors. What the vote cannot show is whether prosecutors will treat him and the former ministers by the same standard.

Parliamentary immunity stops prosecutors from treating a sitting lawmaker as a suspect unless parliament consents. Lifting it lets investigators question all three formally. It charges no one and decides nothing about guilt.

A phone in the Danube

Magyar's case involves the least money but carries the most political weight. Prosecutors allege a confrontation in June 2024 with a man filming him at a Budapest nightclub (Politico). They say Magyar took the man's phone and threw it into the river, and they are investigating suspected theft.

At the time, Magyar sat in the European Parliament, which refused to lift his immunity. When that mandate ended in May 2026, his new seat in Budapest brought the same protection with it (444).

This time Magyar asked lawmakers to lift it himself. He presented the request as equality before the law, while calling the case an attempt to discredit him.

Two Orbán-era files

Balázs Hankó, Orbán's former culture and innovation minister, faces a far larger allegation. Prosecutors suspect criminal mismanagement of grants from the National Cultural Fund, which they say caused a loss of 17.3 billion forints (Euronews Hungary). Hankó denies wrongdoing. Fidesz calls the case political retaliation.

Miklós Seszták, a KDNP politician and former national development minister, is suspected of taking bribes worth more than 11 billion forints between 2015 and 2018 (Euronews Hungary, AP). Prosecutors tie the alleged payments to companies holding contracts with Volánbusz, the state bus operator, and other state bodies. He denies it.

After the vote, Seszták walked into prosecutors' offices voluntarily and was held in short-term custody there, his lawyer told Portfolio.

Who decides next

All three requests came from István Lajtár, a deputy prosecutor exercising the chief prosecutor's powers (Telex). Hungary's president nominates the chief prosecutor, and parliament must confirm the choice. At the same sitting, lawmakers rejected President András Baka's nominee, Zoltán Szathmáry, with none in favour and 138 against (Infostart).

That rejection matters because it leaves the decision on whether to charge in Lajtár's hands for now. Baka says he will look for another candidate, and whoever wins confirmation will inherit all three files.

Prosecutors maintain the applications followed professional criteria. Fidesz says at least one is political. No court has yet tested either position, and the public record so far consists of allegations and denials.

The votes drew coverage in Polish, German and Slovak outlets, and Rzeczpospolita led with the prime minister losing his protection. They also landed in a sensitive week. On 23 September the European Commission proposed that EU governments unfreeze about €4.2 billion in Hungarian cohesion funds (EU money for poorer regions), citing anti-corruption reforms (European Commission). None of the three files has a demonstrated link to that money, and governments still have to approve the release (To Brief).

None of the three had been indicted when AP filed its report (AP). The 139–0 tally (24.hu) shows that Magyar's majority let all three investigations proceed, including the one against its own leader. It does not establish that prosecutors will apply the same standard to each. That answer now belongs to Lajtár's office and to whoever Baka nominates next. Courts enter only if charges follow.