• Home
• Channel: Current Affairs
• On the Run: International Arrest Warrant Issued in Budapest Against Former Jobbik MEP

On the Run: International Arrest Warrant Issued in Budapest Against Former Jobbik MEP

• 15 Jun 2023 10:26 AM
• Hungary Matters

A Budapest court has issued a European and international arrest warrant against former Jobbik MEP Béla Kovács, who has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for espionage and other crimes.

 In September 2020, the court issued a first-instance verdict regarding four defendants who were accused by the prosecution of espionage against EU institutions and other crimes, the Budapest District Court said on its website on Wednesday.

Kovács was first found guilty as an accomplice for serial budget fraud and for using false documents, and was handed a suspended prison sentence of 1.5 years and a 600,000 forint (EUR 1,617) fine.

Subsequently, the appellate court changed the first-instance ruling and declared the one-time opposition politician guilty of preparing to spy against European Union institutions.

In September 2022, the sentence was further stiffened to a 5-year prison sentence and a 10-year ban from public life.

A Hungarian arrest warrant was issued in November 2022 when Kovács failed to appear to serve his sentence, and he is presumed to be abroad.

MTI Photo: Tibor Illyés

• How does this content make you feel?
• I love it
• I like it
• I dislike it

• Arrest Warrant Jobbik

XpatLoop Media Partner

Hungary Matters

Launched in January 2014, this newsletter published on week days covers 'everything you need to know about what’s going on in Hungary and beyond', according to its publisher the state media agency MTI.

Explore More Reports

"Blackmailers" Failed to Thwart Hungarian Defence Purchase Agency - DefMin

• 11 Dec 2024 5:57 AM

"Blackmailers" have failed to obstruct the work of the Defence Procurement Agency (VBU), the defence minister told parliament's defence and law enforcement committee on Tuesday, adding press reports suggesting that procurements had faltered as a result were wrong.



Opposition Parties Respond to Trump's Victory - One Called on US Ambassador in Budapest to "Pack His Bags"

• 7 Nov 2024 7:04 AM

Hungary's opposition parties have responded to Republican nominee Donald Trump's victory at the US presidential election.



Brussels Wants to Plant Puppet Government in Hungary, Says Orbán at October 23 Speech

• 25 Oct 2024 9:20 AM

Brussels wants to oust Hungary's national government which pursues an independent policy which they find intolerable and plant a puppet government in the country, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a speech of commemoration in Budapest's Millenaris Park on Wednesday, marking the 68th anniversary of the 1956 revolution and freedom fight.



Updated: Boycott of Hungary's "Propaganda Media's Products" Demanded by Magyar

• 7 Oct 2024 6:55 AM

The leader of Hungary's opposition Tisza Party called for "a boycott of the propaganda media's products" at a demonstration held at the headquarters of MTVA, the Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund (MTVA), on Saturday afternoon.