A lawmaker of the opposition Jobbik party has filed a criminal complaint against János Pócs, an MP of ruling Fidesz, for incitement to violence against a community and the violation of personal freedom.
Tamás Csányi told a press conference on Thursday that video footage surfaced last week of Pócs “locking a Roma employee of his into a furnace after tossing burning pieces of paper into it”.
Csányi said Pócs’s actions constituted incitement to violence against a community as well as the violation of an individual’s personal freedom.
Jobbik is also calling on ruling Fidesz to immediately recall Pócs from his parliamentary duties, he added.
He argued that if a Jobbik politician had made such a video, “they would have been crucified alive that same day” and perhaps “there would even have been calls to ban Jobbik”. But among the ruling parties, he said, “everyone is ready to accept János Pócs’s … transparent explanation” and dismiss the episode as “unfortunate”.
Csányi noted that Pócs had defended his actions by saying that the “victim” in the video was a friend of his who had asked for the recording to be made.