The European Parliament’s legal affairs committee has blocked Hungary’s latest attempt to strip MEP and the country’s opposition frontrunner, Péter Magyar, of his parliamentary immunity.
In a closed-door vote on Tuesday, the committee decided to maintain immunity, according to five lawmakers with knowledge of the decision.
Magyar, once a loyal Orbán ally, has become a thorn in the side of the Hungarian leader’s party after leaking explosive audio implicating senior officials in evidence tampering tied to a corruption case. His upstart centre-right Tisza party has since surged as the main challenger to Orbán’s populist Fidesz.
The three cases against him, which were all rejected by the Parliament’s committee, ranged from an alleged nightclub phone theft to defamation suits filed by former lawmaker György Simonka, and the far-right Our Homeland Movement.
European Parliament to vote on immunity of Hungarian opposition lawmaker
Hungary’s chief prosecutor has requested that the European Parliament waive the immunity of centre-right party…
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Hungary also sought to strip Klára Dobrev, leader of the left-wing Democratic Coalition and member of the Parliament’s Socialists group, of her parliamentary immunity over a defamation case, but the committee also shot down the request.
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