{"id":27503,"date":"2026-11-10T03:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T03:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/?p=27503"},"modified":"2026-11-10T03:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T03:41:14","slug":"hungary-elects-peter-fejes-chief-prosecutor-secret-police-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/2026\/11\/10\/hungary-elects-peter-fejes-chief-prosecutor-secret-police-files\/","title":{"rendered":"Hungary\u2019s new chief prosecutor apologises, and his first test is trust"},"content":{"rendered":"<section aria-labelledby=\"hpd-nfnmyipv-inrtzyj-hlesdml-zofjqh\" class=\"auk-zvimcvi-inrtzyj\" lang=\"en\">\n<h2 id=\"hpd-nfnmyipv-inrtzyj-hlesdml-zofjqh\">In brief<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Parliament chose P\u00e9ter Fejes for a nine-year term as chief public prosecutor, and he apologised for past failures of the service.<\/li>\n<li>Fejes was dismissed in 2012 by his predecessor P\u00e9ter Polt, and retired from Vas County in 2025.<\/li>\n<li>Secret police files opened on 4 November, covering records tied to about 60,000 people.<\/li>\n<li>The week also brought \u20ac400 million in EIB-backed financing and a Revolut withdrawal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<p>Hungary\u2019s Parliament elected P\u00e9ter Fejes chief public prosecutor on Tuesday, handing him a nine-year post in an institution whose standing has been badly damaged, <a href=\"https:\/\/dailynewshungary.com\/hungary-new-chief-public-prosecutor-fejes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Daily News Hungary<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n<h2>A vote and an apology<\/h2>\n<div class=\"auk-kmrcibp\">\n<div class=\"auk-fsnsbv\"><strong class=\"auk-fsnsbv__fvtkh\">139<\/strong><span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__ppkniutc\">votes in favour, against six, in a secret ballot<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"auk-fsnsbv\"><strong class=\"auk-fsnsbv__fvtkh\">9\u00a0<span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__wmbpnjn\">years<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"auk-fsnsbv__ppkniutc\">length of the chief prosecutor\u2019s term<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Once the vote was over, Fejes conceded that a number of choices made by prosecutors over the past few years had damaged the trust people place in the institution, and that this was deserved. Speaking to the press, he stated: \u201cOn behalf of the prosecution service, I apologise to society for certain decisions, and failures to act, which have rightly and justifiably offended the public\u2019s sense of justice.\u201d Colleagues who had spent their entire careers there but felt pushed aside also received an apology from him.<\/p>\n<p>The office he takes over was criticised during P\u00e9ter Polt\u2019s tenure for not pursuing allegations of graft that touched politicians in government and businesspeople close to the previous administration. Things worsened in 2026. In June P\u00e1l F\u00fcrcht, who led the Central Chief Prosecutor\u2019s Office of Investigation, left his post, and in July G\u00e1bor B\u00e1lint Nagy, a chief public prosecutor, resigned. F\u00fcrcht afterwards claimed that the Office of the Prosecutor General had interfered in probes of delicate cases. For now, that is only a claim.<\/p>\n<h2>From Vas County to the top job<\/h2>\n<p>Fejes studied law at the University of P\u00e9cs and started working as a prosecutor in 1988. His career has not followed a straight line.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"hpd-nfnmyipv-imzntj-gogcn\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Close-up of vintage leather-bound volumes arranged neatly on wooden library shelves.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/close-up-of-vintage-leather-bound-volumes-arranged-neatly.jpg\" \/><figcaption>Vintage bound volumes and legal records arranged on dark wooden bookshelves in an archive. <span class=\"auk-gogcn-ertkm\" data-provider=\"pexels\">Photo: T6 Adventures \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/old-books-on-shelves-16514942\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Pexels<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ol class=\"auk-ofbnbzso\">\n<li><time>1988<\/time>He becomes a prosecutor and works in Vas County.<\/li>\n<li><time>2008<\/time>He is appointed chief prosecutor of Veszpr\u00e9m County.<\/li>\n<li><time>2012<\/time>According to Telex, Polt removed him from office at once, offering no explanation.<\/li>\n<li><time>2025<\/time>After posts in Gy\u0151r and as deputy chief prosecutor for criminal law in Vas County, he retires.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>His best-known files include the 1998 child murder in K\u00f6rmend and the 2009 investigation into the killing of handball player Marian Cozma, which he supervised. He counts the proceedings over the 2010 red mud disaster among the most important of his career.<\/p>\n<h2>What he says he will change<\/h2>\n<p>Before the vote, Fejes told V\u00e1lasz Online that the service needed immediate personnel and organisational changes. His stated proposals are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a Office of the Prosecutor General reduced in size;<\/li>\n<li>an examination of what the Central Chief Prosecutor\u2019s Office of Investigation is meant to do;<\/li>\n<li>action on large salary differences and a more attractive prosecutorial career;<\/li>\n<li>reopening cases where new evidence emerges;<\/li>\n<li>senior prosecutors explaining important decisions in person, not only through official statements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are proposals, not results. Whether they restore trust or independence is not yet shown.<\/p>\n<h2>Secret police files made public<\/h2>\n<p>In the same week, on 4 November, files kept by the communist-era secret police were made accessible, 36 years after Hungary changed to democracy. The database holds records tied to roughly 60,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>The publication has caused controversy. Public figures are being examined anew, and mistakes found in the files have prompted worries about wrongly assigned categories. The Hungary Weekly Briefing underlines a difference that readers should keep in mind: being named in an intelligence file does not amount to having knowingly cooperated with the communist regime.<\/p>\n<h2>The rest of the week<\/h2>\n<p>The 7 November edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/dailynewshungary.com\/hungary-weekly-briefing-secret-police-files\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Hungary Weekly Briefing<\/a> also covered:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>financing of \u20ac400 million for Hungary backed by the European Investment Bank, along with the government\u2019s schedule for ending its dependence on imported Russian gas;<\/li>\n<li>Revolut\u2019s withdrawal of precious-metals trading in Hungary, which has left affected customers uncertain;<\/li>\n<li>where the European People\u2019s Party stands on the Article 7 rule-of-law procedure, as well as the choice to turn Christmas Eve into a public holiday;<\/li>\n<li>diplomatic activity by the embassies of India, Yemen, the United States, Indonesia, T\u00fcrkiye, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Italy, South Korea, Poland, Romania, France, Switzerland, Ukraine and Norway, together with an interview of Yemen\u2019s ambassador.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"media-credit auk-gogcn-ertkm\" data-provider=\"pexels\"><small>Photo: Incze S\u00e1ndor Zolt\u00e1n \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/oszaghaz-in-budapest-16356266\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Pexels<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new head of Hungary\u2019s prosecution service apologised to the public on his first day, as communist-era secret police files were opened for 60,000 people.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1333,1336,1156,1332,1335,1334],"class_list":["post-27503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-chief-prosecutor","tag-daily-news-hungary","tag-hungary","tag-peter-fejes","tag-peter-polt","tag-secret-police-files"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27503"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27511,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27503\/revisions\/27511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}