Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has accused former head of government Viktor Orbán of discussing an armed uprising and the violent overthrow of the constitutional order. He pointed out that Hungarian law provides for penalties of up to life imprisonment for such an offense.
Péter Magyar made the remarks in a Facebook post.
“Viktor Orbán jokingly spoke about an armed rebellion at the paid DPK camp and the violent overthrow of the constitutional order. This is one of the most serious crimes against the state,” the post said.
Magyar cited provisions of Hungary’s Criminal Code under which acts directly aimed at changing the country’s constitutional order through violence or the threat of violence are punishable by five to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.
Preparing to violently change the constitutional order carries a prison sentence of one to five years.
According to Hungarian news outlet Economx, Viktor Orbán spoke at a DPK event organized by the Fidesz party, saying that Hungary was not yet ready for national resistance, but his political movement was.
“We could distribute the appropriate tools here. Some would get blunter ones, others sharper ones,” the former prime minister said.
During the event, Orbán also claimed that he was the main target of efforts to hold members of the former government accountable. In particular, he commented on the arrests of Fidesz politicians Balázs Bús, Miklós Seszták, Veronika Bajusz and Balázs Hankó.
“They took these people away so they could eventually take me away,” Orbán said.
He claimed that the detained politicians only needed to testify that the relevant decisions had been made on his orders in order to be released.
