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In the capital of Hungary - Budapest - on the evening of March 26, thousands of people protested demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Viktor Orbana and the chief prosecutor after the release of an audio recording with testimony about corruption in the government.
Reuters writes about it.
Protesters marched from the building of the General Prosecutor's Office to the parliament, shouting: "Resign, resign." Some of the protesters had torches.
Peter Magyar, ex-husband of the ex-Minister of Justice of Hungary Yudit Varga, spoke before the protesters. He published the audio recording.
Magyar confirmed his intention to create his own party to "challenge Orbán" in local and European elections in June.
"Hungarians thank you for coming today in thousands... to tell the authorities that we are enough," Magyar said.
Details of the scandal
The scandal in Hungary broke out due to the release of an audio recording with the voice of the former Minister of Justice Judith Varga, in which she allegedly confirms the conspiracy of Hungarian government officials to hide corruption.
Peter Madyar - Yudit Varga's ex-husband - posted a video on Facebook and YouTube. He also handed over the recording to the prosecutor's office in Budapest to use as evidence.
Instead, Varga accused Magyar of domestic violence during their marriage and claimed the statements were made under duress.
"I said what he wanted to hear in order to escape as quickly as possible. In such a situation, any person can say something that he does not mean in a state of fear," she said.
On the recording, Judit Varga described in detail the attempt by Orbán's chief of staff's assistants to remove certain parts of the documents in the bribery case. She describes in detail how other officials had evidence removed from court records to hide their role in corrupt business operations.
At the center of the case is the former state secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Pal Volner, who was accused in 2022 of receiving bribes from the former head of the Bailiffs Service, György Šadl. Both pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors are demanding prison terms for them.
Prosecutors said in a statement that they will analyze the recording, which Magyar said he made in January 2023, and gather additional evidence.
"It is legally and physically impossible to destroy and interfere with the indictment documents," the statement reads.
Prosecutors were to hold a press conference on Thursday.
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs declined to answer questions from Reuters about the content of the recording, commenting: "Much ado about nothing."
