Hungarian prosecutors seek to lift PM Magyar’s immunity over 2024 phone-throwing incident

Hungary’s Prosecutor General has requested the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of Prime Minister Peter Magyar in connection with a 2024 incident in which he is suspected of snatching the mobile phone of a man filming him in a nightclub and throwing it into the Danube.

At the same time, the lifting of immunity is being sought for another case involving two former ministers of former prime minister Viktor Orban’s government — the first time criminal proceedings have been announced against former members of Orban’s governments.

Magyar, accused of theft in this case, won the April parliamentary elections, ending Orban’s 16-year rule in the country, and has described the investigation against him as “shameful”.

In a video posted on Facebook, Magyar said he wants parliament to lift his immunity and accused prosecutors of trying to cause confusion by “mixing” his case with that of the two former Orban ministers.

Last year, when he was still an MEP, the European Parliament refused to lift his immunity.

The investigation against the Fidesz MP of Orban’s party and former Minister of Culture and Innovation, Balazs Hanko, concerns the suspected misuse of public funds worth €47 million used in the 2026 election campaign. In July, prosecutors seized the party’s computers.

The second suspect, Miklos Sestak, an MP from the KDNP party and former Minister of National Development, is suspected of being corrupted with millions of euros to buy used buses at inflated prices between 2014 and 2018.