Hungary has formally requested that the Ukrainian army officers responsible for the death of a Hungarian (and thereby EU) citizen, who passed away in a hospital after being abused and severely beaten during conscription, be put on the EU human rights sanctions list, PM Viktor Orbán announced on Tuesday, July 15th.
“Our fellow countryman was beaten to death during forced conscription by men who call themselves recruiters,” the prime minister said on X. “His case is not an exception but a clear example of the state-led brutality and lawlessness that define today’s Ukraine, and why it must not be allowed to join the EU.”
Since the victim was also an EU citizen, Hungary demands that the draft officers and their superiors be put on the EU’s human rights sanctions list “immediately.”
The official document will be submitted to the EU institutions on Wednesday, but Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó already notified his colleagues in the EU Council, as well as foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas, during their meeting on Tuesday.
As we reported before, Ukraine denies being responsible for the death of József Sebestyén, a dual citizen of both Ukraine and Hungary, who—according to his testimony given to his family and lawyer shortly before his death—was taken to a forest and severely beaten until he signed his draft papers, and succumbed to his injuries days later.
Despite the testimonies and the footage available online, Ukraine claims Sebesytén had not been beaten and died due to a blood clot reaching his heart. Kyiv added insult to injury by denying that he had Hungarian citizenship or that he was even ethnic Hungarian, alleging that his name was not József, but Yosyp.
But even if Ukraine refuses to acknowledge the truth in this case, there’s no denying that Ukrainian draft officers often resort to unbelievable brutality and torture during conscription, which has even led to a number of deaths.
And this does not come from Budapest, but according to a recent report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, published on July 8th by Michael O’Flaherty, the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe (CoE).
“We find it unacceptable and shocking how the European politicians are indifferent regarding this issue,” FM Szijjártó said on Tuesday. “Where are the NGOs and human rights organizations? Why don’t they speak out and say that this manhunt on the streets of Ukraine is unacceptable?”
The internet is full of hundreds, if not thousands, of videos documenting the brutal nature of forced mobilization in Ukraine, yet the EU has never spoken out about it either, and is not expected to start now.
In fact, Brussels claims that Kyiv has fulfilled all criteria to join the EU in terms of human rights and the rule of law. It’s clear that acknowledging that there is a problem would shatter this carefully constructed narrative and jeopardize the agenda to complete Ukraine’s accession before the end of the decade.
And the argument that Russia uses similar tactics, if not worse, to fill its ranks makes no sense either. Russia is not the one trying to get into the European Union; Ukraine is. The unwillingness of Brussels to hold Ukraine to European human rights standards, and throw innocent Ukrainians—and EU citizens—under the bus every day in the process, is simply outrageous.
Yet, you can expect only Hungary to be portrayed as the villain of this story by the EU and its mainstream media, while Ukrainians keep dying for nothing.
