Hungarian man recruits private army, police busts him

A Hungarian man, Richárd B., resident of Budapest, has been prosecuted for war crime, illegal recruitment, the police reported. It is believed that the man has been recruiting a private army in Hungary for a year.

Criminal proceedings started

The police reported the case in a brief statement. They wrote that the National Investigation Bureau of the Police on Standby (Készenléti Rendőrség Nemzeti Nyomozó Iroda, KR NNI) has opened criminal proceedings against Richárd B. for the crime of illegal recruitment. On Wednesday morning, a search was carried out at his residence and a number of computer equipment and documents were seized from him, Index reports.

Magyar Nemzet has confirmed on the basis of its own information that the police did indeed search the house of Richárd B., who first spoke a year ago about his intention to set up a private military company (PMC), and that he is recruiting people for this in Hungary.

According to the newspaper, the National Bureau of Investigation has opened criminal proceedings against him because the Hungarian Criminal Code (Büntető Törvénykönyv, Btk) clearly prohibits recruiting soldiers for a foreign armed organisation on the territory of Hungary. The offence is punishable under the code by imprisonment for one to five years.

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He did not think he was breaking the law

In his latest interview, Richárd B. specifically stated that he does not believe that he is breaking the law by recruiting in Hungary. He added that until the interview, he had not been approached by the Hungarian authorities.

“They did not contact me, simply because there was not a reason why. I did not violate Hungarian law, which I was very careful about, and I consulted regularly with people who knew about the subject. After all, I was looking for armed guards for defensive work – which is allowed,” he said in the interview.

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The President urging accountability of war criminals at the UN

Hungary urges UN Member States to make peace the primary objective in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, President of Hungary Katalin Novák told the UN General Assembly. In her speech at the plenary sitting of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, she recalled that the most important goal of the UN was peace, as stated in Article I of the UN Charter, 24.hu reports.

“We call in the strongest possible terms for an investigation into war crimes against innocent civilians. These crimes must be documented, investigated and brought to justice by the competent international institutions. No crime committed should go unpunished,” she said.

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Source: Index, 24.hu