Hungary’s parliament voted unanimously on Monday to lift the immunity of Prime Minister Péter Magyar, making him the first sitting head of government in the country’s history to lose legal protection in office. Lawmakers also stripped immunity from two former ministers facing corruption investigations.
The 2024 Nightclub Incident and Parliament’s Unanimous Vote
Hungary’s 199-member assembly approved the immunity removal with 139 votes in favor and zero opposed, with no abstentions or opposing votes cast. The center-right prime minister faces an investigation into a misdemeanor-level allegation of theft stemming from an event in June 2024 at a nightclub in central Budapest.
Prosecutors had previously sought to lift Magyar’s immunity when he served as a Member of the European Parliament in September 2024, but the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee rejected the request, describing the case at the time as politically motivated. Magyar subsequently won the April legislative elections, ending a 16-year governing era under Viktor Orbán, entered the Hungarian parliament, and acquired domestic immunity.
Corruption Probes Target Former Ministers Under Orbán
In the same parliamentary session, lawmakers lifted the immunity of two former high-ranking officials from the previous administration, marking the first time corruption proceedings have targeted senior figures from the Orbán era. Balázs Hankó, a Fidesz party lawmaker and former minister of culture and innovation, is accused of embezzling more than $46 million in public funds—with sources noting an amount equivalent to 40 million euros—some of which prosecutors claim was channeled into the 2026 election campaign.
The second official, Miklós Szeszták, a former minister of national development and member of the Christian Democratic People’s Party, is under investigation for allegedly accepting millions of dollars in bribes. Prosecutors suspect he took payments between 2014 and 2018 to approve purchases of used buses at inflated prices. Lawmakers from Fidesz and its KDNP ally boycotted the parliamentary session entirely.
Political Fallout and Magyar’s Response
Magyar welcomed the parliamentary vote to strip his protection, stating before the assembly that he takes responsibility for his actions and maintains he committed no crime. He argued that the investigation is a farce and dismissed the accusations as a character assassination attempt. He also accused prosecutors of trying to conflate his misdemeanor phone-theft inquiry with the severe corruption charges facing the former ministers.
Legal experts note that Magyar faces the risk of losing the prime ministership only if he is convicted of the theft charge and sentenced to a term of imprisonment, an outcome considered unlikely by legal observers. If convicted without a custodial sentence, he could retain his office while potentially facing political and party fallout. Prosecutors can now formally question him as a suspect as the legal proceedings move forward.