There are few “cases” known to the Hungarian public that are intangible. But the story of “Uncle Zsolti” is one of them, and it has been circulating in the political public for months like a ghost. In the campaign, Fidesz-KDNP was attacked because of it, but now Fidesz would shoot Prime Minister Péter Magyar with it.
The essence of the story is that it is not at all certain that there is a story. More specifically, the authenticity of the “story” from which “Uncle Zsolti” originates is highly questionable.
It is. The origin of the “Uncle Zsolti case” is the result of a complicated chain of events and the merging of two completely separate stories for political purposes. A story about which it is not yet known whether it is fiction or reality – yet many treat it as real.
One of the events: Pál Péter Juhász, the director of the Szőlő Street correctional institution, and his partner were arrested last May.
The other: in September, Gábor Kuslits, the former director of the capital’s child protection, stated in an interview with Válasz Online that two high-ranking politicians were mentioned in professional circles who could have protected the director (one of them had boys, the other had girls). Although Kuslits later admitted that this was just unverified rumour, names immediately began to circulate in the public discourse. That’s when the “Uncle Zsolt” began in the second public, i.e. in some corners of the social media.
Yes, Péter Juhász is a political and public influencer (former politician of Együtt), who is one of the main engines and catalysts of the case in the public. After the Kuslits interview, on September 19, Péter Juhász published a video in which a man calling himself a “pastor”, János Látó, who was still anonymous at the time, said that 10 years ago, two boys in Ózdon told him that a high-ranking politician had come to their home in a black car for sexual purposes. Although the boys did not see his face, they identified him on TV based on his voice, saying: “Well, this is Uncle Zsolt”. In the video, Juhász noted that the story could not be proven, but hinted that the person concerned was a “hunter”.
So that after Péter Juhász’s video, Gergely Arató, a member of the DK parliament, asked Zsolt Semjén in the parliament, who is Uncle Zsolti. In response, Semjén stormed out and called the allegations character assassination and “Beelzebub accusations”. Semjén retaliated by saying that he will not throw names into the public mind on a question based on mere rumors without a named complaint, because that would in itself start suspicions, which is precisely the goal of his political opponents.
Justice Minister Bence Tuzson had a quick report prepared, from which it was revealed that Gábor Kuslits, who started the rumors, admitted that he had no evidence, he only based his mention of the politicians on unverified rumours.
In the meantime, the prosecution searched Péter Juhász’s house and seized his assets. In response to this, Róbert Puzsér organized a solidarity demonstration on Kossuth Square, at which János Látó also gave a speech, who by then turned out to be a preacher of questionable credibility. After the demonstration and initial parliamentary battles, the case became a campaign tool for the upcoming election. But we got no closer to deciphering it.
Juhász’s goal was to collect a trail leader’s fee, with which Uncle Zsolti’s identity could be found out.
At the start of the collection, Juhász stated that he himself knows who it is, but this knowledge alone does not pass the test of law, because he cannot prove it. With the money – which swelled to nearly HUF 100 million in just 10 days – he wanted to reward the person who provides tangible proof of the politician’s identity that will hold up in court.
Several people drew attention to this contradiction. In a legal sense, he does not know, and his claim will remain only political communication and rumor until there is tangible evidence that will stand up in court. Juhász’s claim that he “knows” was much more a tool of speculation and pressure used in the political and media spheres, rather than real, well-founded knowledge. Juhász himself later moved away from this point: after his confident statement in April, he began to back down by June and admitted that he was forced to treat the incoming information “at the level of an urban legend or rumor”.
Not.
Juhász promised to distribute the entire amount among NGOs.
Yes, in the case there was indeed a character who appeared in April, after the election, to the Kontroll.hu portal owned by Péter Magyar’s brother, Márton Magyar, as a crown witness in the Szőlő utca case: he is Sándor Bangó, who is sometimes referred to as “Sanyika” in the media. He was one of the residents of the Szőlő Street Institute.
Not. As a former resident of the Szőlő street correctional institution, DK spoke to him in an interview before Kontroll. At that time, with his face still covered and his voice distorted, he spoke about the traumas he suffered in the Szőlő Street Correctional Institution. After the DK interview, in November of last year, the prosecution officially questioned him as a witness on two occasions, in the framework of the criminal proceedings against the former director of the correctional institution, Péter Pál Juhász. Although Sanyika had already spoken about the abuses at the institute in these forums, she said the name “Uncle Zsolti” for the first time in her interview with Kontroll in the same context, with her name and face in front of the public.
He didn’t tell prosecutors about it then.
He claimed that the arrested director of the correctional institution, Péter Péter Pál Juhász, had abused him and on one occasion took him into the dark to a politician, “Uncle Zsolti”. According to his claim, after the sexual act, when he turned on the light, he saw the departing politician, whom he did not recognize as a child. This was the first time that the Szőlő Street thread and the name “Uncle Zsolti” were presented in the same context by a newspaper. At the end of the interview, it was said that the editorial staff of Kontroll already knew who Uncle Zsolti was, but due to the protection of personal rights, it was not made public at that time.
In itself, the fact that a severely traumatized victim, dragged by politics, says something in front of the cameras does not prove anything – the prosecution should have the final say. We cannot know whether Bangó is telling the truth and, if so, who he is referring to, since there is currently no independent, objective evidence behind his words. In addition, the boy mentioned the name in connection with Szőlő Street, even though the name “Uncle Zsolt” appeared in a completely different story from 10 years ago in Ózd.
On the contrary! Although Bangó testified at the prosecutor’s office after the Kontroll interview, this was preceded by serious hesitation: after his interview with Kontroll, he first indicated that he would testify, then he backed down citing the enormous pressure and lack of evidence, and finally, a day later, he changed his mind and actually appeared before the authorities and named “Uncle Zsolti”. Afterwards, he informed the public that the prosecutor’s office had asked him not to disclose his name and other details for the time being, as this could endanger the ongoing investigation.
Not. We know this from the fact that he said it himself in an interview with KlikkTV. He claims that although he undertook this examination, he missed it due to health reasons. This claim has not been verified by anyone.
This is indeed what the reporter claimed, but there is a strong suspicion that the newspaper was not convinced of the facts or that they too only relied on Bangó’s statement, which was otherwise unverified. This is indicated by the fact that Márton Magyar, the founder of Kontroll, later expressed it more nuancedly in a statement. He wrote that he “doesn’t even know that Sándor Bangó lied in the interview about the surname of ‘Uncle Zsolti'”.
This is because Fidesz representative János Pócs published an audio recording in June, in which, according to the accusation, Bangó admits that he received four million forints from the Tisza Party for the incriminating confession. Bangó and Kontroll.hu called this a fake.
In Fidesz, the whole “Uncle Zsolti” story is considered a slander and the Tisza Party is suspected to be behind it. After the change of government, Kontroll.hu blew up the case again with an interview with Sándor Bangó – suggesting that the threads lead to the prominent figures of the Fidesz-KDNP – and Pócs therefore launched a political response after the election. His aim is probably to reverse the narrative and convince his political opponent that the “Uncle Zsolt case” is actually a fabricated story, constructed and financed by the Tisza Party for its own political gain. This intention is confirmed by the fact that Pócs directly asked Péter Magyar about the case in the parliament, and he clearly described the videos as “Uncle Zsolt’s connections lead to the Tisza party”.
The Fidesz politician published an audio recording on which, according to the indictment, the voice of the crown witness, Sándor Bangó, can be heard saying: “I got the four million on Tuesday. I hope they protect me because they said they would.” According to Pócs, this proves that the boy was motivated to make a false confession with money and an apartment.
Pócs conducted an interview with the former teacher of the Szőlő Street correctional institution, Mário Kiss, the “double graduate”, who claimed in front of the cameras that Sándor Bangó was lying on several points, and that the whole case was built up by the Tisza Party for political gain.
In addition, according to Pócs, he has other information and evidence that contradicts Bangó’s testimony. He did not show them to the public, claiming that he had already handed them over to the prosecutor’s office.
Incidentally, the most recent point of the story is a video from June, in which Sándor Bangó – in response to János Pócs’s accusations – promised that since he had already done so at the prosecutor’s office, he would name “Uncle Zsolti” in public on July 9. In the meantime, Kontroll.hu and he have initiated defamation lawsuits against János Pócs and the teacher because of the falsified audio recording.
Fidesz singled out Péter Magyar and Tisza because Kontroll.hu is the paper of the Prime Minister’s brother, and that is why it is tied to the Tisza Party. Gergely Gulyás, the faction leader of Fidesz, told Magyar in the parliament: “You are replacing the substantive discussion with threats and insults, which will get us nowhere. Instead, please respond to the scandals that otherwise suggest gross interference in the election campaign on the part of Tisza. We thought you would stay away from them, but it turned out that there is only a fake Zsoltibács case.” Péter Magyar also reacted to Gulyás’s words. “Shame on you, shame on you!” said the prime minister. At the same meeting, Fidesz’s Miklós Panyi considers Uncle Zsolt’s Bácsizás to be a well-constructed political product, which branded the entire right-wing community with pedophilia. “It’s a bit strange to hear these again from a faction to which Gábor Kaleta is connected,” responded Péter Magyar, and said: he never said Uncle Zsolti.
