Hungary’s Prosecutor General has resigned, bowing to pressure from Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who is seeking to remove key officials appointed under Viktor Orbán.
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In a statement, Gábor Bálint Nagy said he was stepping down to safeguard the integrity and independence of the prosecutor office, condemning what he described as political pressure placed upon it.
“The prosecution service must not become an instrument in the struggles of political actors, nor can it be a stage for day-to-day political interests or power games,” Nagy said, adding that he no longer wished to be part of a conflict “built on false premises and serving political ends.”
Magyar welcomed the resignation, saying: “With this, the country has freed itself from another Orbán puppet.”
Since his landslide election victory in April, Magyar has called for the removal of senior officials appointed during Orbán’s time in office. Over the weekend, President Tamás Sulyok also signed a constitutional amendment ending his own mandate.
Nagy had also come under criticism from lawyers representing a group of Ukrainian cash couriers, who accused him of acting on political orders.
In early March, two vans carrying large quantities of cash and gold bound for Oschadbank’s headquarters in Kyiv left Vienna before being stopped near Budapest. The crew were detained, questioned and expelled from Hungary, while the cash and gold were confiscated.
Lóránt Horváth, the lawyer representing Oschadbank and the seven detained Ukrainians, told Euronews that those responsible for the operation should themselves have faced prosecution.
“The chief prosecutor supervising and directing this investigation was appointed by the previous government, so it is also possible that he is providing political support, or a safety net, to his former bosses in some way,” Horváth said.
The Prosecutor’s Office has denied any political motive behind the operation. Nagy had led the office since last year.