Péter Magyar accused of domestic harassment

Commentators cannot decide whether the Fidesz insider-turned-critic of the government actually mistreated his wife, Justice Minister Judit Varga at the end of their marriage, as suggested by a police report leaked to the press.

According to a report by a police guard accompanying the then Minister of Justice in December 2020, her husband, Péter Magyar wanted to prevent her from leaving their home and taking their children temporarily away from him. He reportedly said ’you will regret it; no one will believe you; I will make a scandal that will make the whole government tumble’. HVG’s reporter interviewed Mr Magyar on the matter but he didn’t consent to his words being made public and described the reporter as a ‘propagandist’ on Facebook. The government is trying to discredit him, he said, because he decided to set up a new opposition party and drew tens of thousands to his first rally (See BudaPost, March 19).

In Népszava, Dóra Varga finds it regrettable that the divorced couple try to settle their scores in public. The police report fails to clarify whether Mr Magyar actually went beyond being upset, she writes. Meanwhile she finds it strange for Ms Varga to react by publishing a short video on domestic harassment on her Facebook page without any further comment. She accuses the former justice minister of not being especially concerned about domestic violence while in office.

On Telex, Máté Világi takes up the defence of the reporter accused by Mr Magyar of being a propagandist. Heti Világgazdaság’s András Dezső, he writes, is a prize-winning fact-finding journalist who has unveiled unpleasant facts about the government’s practices on multiple occasions.

Tags: Judit Varga, Péter Magyar