A senior Hungarian police investigator who went public with explosive allegations of intelligence pressure and a covert operation targeting the opposition Tisza Party has received an extraordinary wave of public support, with a crowdfunding campaign raising nearly 730,000 in just two days.
The campaign for Bence Szabó, a captain in the Cybercrime Division of Hungary’s National Bureau of Investigation (NNI), quickly became one of the largest such mobilisations in the region, as donors in Hungary and across Europe rallied behind the officer after he was investigated over his role in exposing the case.
The surge in support comes at a politically combustible moment for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is facing what polls suggest may be his most difficult re-election battle since returning to power in 2010. Multiple independent surveys now show Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party widening its lead over Orbán’s Fidesz ahead of the 12 April election, with one poll putting Tisza at 56% among decided voters against 37% for Fidesz.
The affair became public after Hungarian investigative outlet Direkt36 published details based on internal documents, confidential sources and a recorded interview with Szabó, in which he described alleged secret service pressure surrounding a politically sensitive case.
According to the account, the case began in July 2025 when the NNI received a tip alleging that two Hungarian men were involved in child pornography. The...
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