Hungary Lifts Immunity for Three Lawmakers

Budapest — Hungary's National Assembly on 28 September voted 139⁠–⁠0 to lift the parliamentary immunity of Prime Minister Péter Magyar and of two lawmakers who served as ministers under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, allowing prosecutors to move ahead with separate criminal investigations.

Parliamentary immunity is a legal shield common in many European democracies. It is meant to protect sitting lawmakers from politically motivated arrests or lawsuits so they can do their jobs. Lifting it does not decide guilt; it only lets investigators and courts treat the person like an ordinary defendant for that case. None of the three has been indicted, according to Associated Press reporting.

Lawmakers from Orbán's Fidesz party and its Christian Democrat ally boycotted the session and called the proceedings political revenge.

Three separate cases

Magyar asked lawmakers to lift his own immunity. Prosecutors are investigating him over a June 2024 nightclub incident in Budapest in which, they allege, he took a man's mobile phone and threw it into the Danube River. The Associated Press described the allegation as misdemeanor theft with damages scarcely exceeding $300. Magyar has denied that his conduct was theft, called the case a farce and a character assassination, and told parliament he had nothing to hide.

Separately, prosecutors are investigating Balázs Hankó, culture and innovation minister until May 2026 and now a Fidesz lawmaker, over alleged misuse of money from Hungary's National Cultural Fund. Deutsche Welle, citing prosecutors' figures, reported alleged losses of 17.3 billion forints (about €44.5 million). Prosecutors allege awards were steered for political purposes, including toward Fidesz campaign costs before the April 2026 election. Hankó rejects the allegations. Brussels Signal reported he was taken into custody the evening of 28 September after a summons.

Miklós Seszták, a Christian Democrat lawmaker who was national development minister from 2014 to 2018, faces a separate probe over alleged bribes and kickbacks tied to state bus procurements and construction projects. The Associated Press put the alleged bribes at more than 12 billion forints (about $37.2 million). He denies wrongdoing. Brussels Signal reported he was detained earlier on 28 September.

Political backdrop

Magyar's Tisza party defeated Orbán in April 2026 after 16 years of Fidesz-led government, campaigning on tackling corruption and repairing Hungary's strained relationship with the European Union. Magyar accused prosecutors of trying to conflate his phone case with the former ministers' corruption probes. Orbán and his allies have described the detentions as a show trial; Fidesz boycotted the immunity vote.

First high-level Orbán-era targets

Associated Press and Al Jazeera described the Hankó and Seszták files as among the first corruption investigations to reach top figures from Orbán's long tenure now that Magyar's government controls the parliament majority. Magyar's program has included plans for an asset-recovery office aimed at Orban-era wrongdoing. Fidesz calls the same cases political tyranny. Readers should keep the distinction clear: Monday's vote only removes immunity; guilt or innocence is for later charging decisions and courts.

What happens next

Prosecutors can continue the investigations now that immunity is lifted. Charging decisions, if any, remain ahead. The political fight over whether the probes are accountability or revenge will run through any trials that follow.