Kharkiv, Ukraine – The Hungarian government is facing allegations of child sexual abuse and a decade-long cover-up involving senior officials, police and state institutions.
The scandal centers on Péter Pál Juhász, former director of the Szőlő Street Juvenile Correctional Institution, who is accused of trafficking young girls from the Janka Zirzen Children’s Home. It was brought to light by Gábor Kuslits, former head of Child Protection Services in Budapest.
Kuslits and a colleague reported their concerns to the police, but were made to sign a confidentiality agreement. Officers informed Kuslits that they were aware of Juhász’s actions and that a covert investigation into him was ongoing, for which confidentiality was essential.
No such investigation took place, however, and Juhász was only arrested this May, 2025, ten years after Kuslits filed his initial complaint.
It has since emerged that the first complaint was made against him in 2002. Krisztina Reviczky, a staff member at the Magvető Street Children’s Home, recalled that Juhász arrived one evening to take 13-year-old Adrienn from the facility. The then-director allegedly claimed that “girls only open up at night” for therapeutic talks.
Reviczky grew suspicious because Adrienn arrived back at Magvető Street the next day with visible signs of violence on her body.
According to Kuslits, police suppressed the allegations because “two very high ranking politicians” were implicated. The claims have prompted outrage in Hungary, where the far-right government has built much of its political identity on the defense of so-called “traditional family values.”
Controversy deepend after a YouTube video released on September 19, 2025, featured an anonymous source alleging that a senior politician visited a children’s home to rape boys aged 10 to 12. The children reportedly only knew the man as “Uncle Zsolti”, but later recognised his voice on television as that of Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén.
Opposition lawmakers have called for an investigation into who ‘Uncle Zsolti’ is. MP Gergely Arató very pointedly asked Semjén who ‘Uncle Zsolti’ might be- interpreted by many as an accusation. Péter Magyar, Hungary’s most popular opposition leader, went on to call for Semjén to be suspended from his position until the identities of ‘Uncle Zsolti’ and the other alleged high-ranking official are confirmed.
This is not the first time that the Hungarian government has been implicated in a pedophilia scandal. In 2023, Endre Kónya, the former deputy director of an orphanage in the northern town of Bicske, received a presidential pardon – part of a wave of clemencies granted during Pope Francis’ visit to Hungary.
Kónya had been convicted of covering up the director’s molestation of children at the institution. When it emerged in February 2024 that President Katalin Novák had signed Kónya’s pardon, protests erupted in Budapest calling for her removal. She was forced to resign a week later.
The government has responded aggressively to the latest allegations. The Directorate-General of Child Protection has filed a complaint against Kuslits for defamation and failure to report concerns. Justice Minister Bence Tuzson, meanwhile, has denied the allegations, stating that “there were no minor victims, and no names of politicians were revealed.”
Semjén himself stated that he is an “implacable enemy of pedophilia,” and that “there are not many people in the Parliament who are more radical than me on this issue.”
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned that “every vile opposition fake news spreader … can feel the cool breath of the Hungarian legal system on the back of their neck.”
Where the investigations will lead remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is that this is a damaging moment for the government that has weaponized “protecting children” as a political slogan while curtailing LGBT+ rights.
For the victims of abuse, though- of whom more are being identified every day- it is yet another devastating chapter.
Featured Image:
Image: Zsolt Semjén and Pope Francis, 2023
Source: Zsolt Semjén via Instagram
