Hungary’s Prosecutor General Gábor Bálint Nagy has resigned after coming under pressure from Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who had described him as a “puppet” of former prime minister Viktor Orbán, according to the Hungarian website Mandiner.
Nagy said he was stepping down to safeguard the independence of the prosecution service, arguing that the politically charged attacks against him had gone beyond acceptable public debate.
“The functioning and independence of the prosecutor’s office must not, under any circumstances, be compromised by the disgraceful, politically motivated struggles surrounding the prosecutor general,” he said.
He also charged that “attacks” targeting him had “gone far beyond the bounds of acceptable professional and public debate.”
The resignation comes as Magyar continues replacing senior officials appointed under Orbán’s government, following the removal of former President Tamás Sulyok and a recent raid on a data centre hosting Fidesz servers. Magyar welcomed the resignation, saying Hungary had “rid itself of yet another of Orbán’s puppets.”
Orban’s Fidesz party has decried Magyar’s moves as “autocratic.”
