Romanian man charged with forced labour in Hungary
Pest County prosecutors say a promised driving job in Nagykőrös turned into beatings and unpaid work. They want prison, a fine and expulsion; nothing is proven.
By
Katharina Brenner
Prosecutors in Pest County have indicted a Romanian citizen on charges of aggravated human trafficking and forced labour, the regional office said on Thursday. The accusations concern a Hungarian man who, according to the indictment as relayed by the Hungarian news agency MTI, was pressured into working through beatings and threats. None of this has been tested in court.
In brief
- The accusations concern a Hungarian man who, according to the indictment as relayed by the Hungarian news agency MTI, was pressured into working through beatings and threats.
- The statement does not name that country.
- Readers should treat the details as the prosecution’s version of events, reported by two Hungarian outlets from the same official announcement.
A promised driving job in Nagykőrös
The prosecution’s account begins in 2022. The accused is said to have struck a deal with a Hungarian man who was living in poverty in Nagykőrös, a town in central Hungary. The man was meant to work as a driver and, in return, receive lodging, meals and a modest wage.
Prosecutors say that is not what happened. As Daily News Hungary reports, the man was allegedly assaulted and threatened, then put to work on farms and building jobs rather than behind the wheel. The Budapest Business Journal adds that his compensation allegedly amounted to very little food and the odd payment of 1,000 forints.
The two outlets place the start of the violence slightly differently. One says it began in early 2023, the other in the spring of that year. The gap is small, but it shows that the public details come from a short prosecution statement rather than from court documents.
Abroad, then back in Hungary
The indictment reportedly goes further. Prosecutors say the accused later brought the victim to another country, took away his identity papers (the Budapest Business Journal specifies a passport) and held him in degrading conditions while still making him work. The statement does not name that country.
Officials there are said to have found the situation during an inspection and to have opened their own proceedings over suspected unlawful detention and forced labour. They also helped the man travel home. Daily News Hungary dates that return to September 2025, while the Budapest Business Journal says only that the accused came back to Nagykőrös about a month later.
What followed, according to prosecutors, was a repeat of the earlier pattern. The accused allegedly turned up at the victim’s home, beat him again and made him work without any pay at all. After the victim was reported missing, police opened an investigation, found him and arrested the suspect, who has been held in custody.
What prosecutors want and what remains unknown
The Pest County Prosecutor’s Office is asking for a prison term that must actually be served, a fine and the expulsion of the accused from Hungary. The Budapest Environs Regional Court will hear the case and decide whether the accused is guilty.
Several basic points are still missing from the public record. Neither the suspect nor the alleged victim has been named, the foreign country involved has not been identified and no trial date has been announced. The sources also disagree on how to date some of the events, which is why the timeline above is attributed rather than stated as settled fact.
Until the court rules, everything described here remains an allegation. The accused is presumed innocent, and the charges of aggravated human trafficking and forced labour have yet to be examined by a judge. Readers should treat the details as the prosecution’s version of events, reported by two Hungarian outlets from the same official announcement.
Featured image. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Credit: Unknown (own work, released into the public domain). License: Public domain.
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