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18+: Former Hungarian juvenile inmate tells of years of sexual abuse inside state‑run correctional home, points to powerful politician
Sándor Bangó, now 20, has broken his silence about the abuse he endured as a teenager in the Szőlő Street Correctional Institute in Budapest, describing in graphic detail how the former director, Péter Pál Juhász, allegedly used his position to coerce him into repeated sexual acts. A former resident of the child‑care system, Sándor says he was first sexually abused around the age of six and later in children’s homes, experiences he says made him feel defenceless when Juhász began exploiting him in the institution.
Sándor explained to Kontroll that he was prescribed medication which left him “dazed” during these encounters, though he stresses he was still aware of what was happening. He says the abuse took place in Juhász’s office, in a separate room with a double bed, and in the director’s car, and that Juhász repeatedly promised him an earlier release in exchange for compliance.
The figure known as “uncle Zsolti”
In the same Kontroll interview, Sándor says there was another man involved whose identity the media outlet says it knows but cannot publicly reveal for reasons of privacy. He describes being taken to a darkened room by Juhász, where he had sex with an older man he could not see; he only saw the man’s face afterwards, when the man got dressed and turned on the light. Sándor adds that he did not recognise the man at the time, explaining that at 14, he did not follow politics and had never heard of the individual who is now widely nicknamed “uncle Zsolti” in Hungarian public discourse.
The Kontroll programme has since stated that anyone aware of similar incidents should follow Sándor’s example and report them to prosecutors.
A wider institutional scandal
The Szőlő Street case erupted in autumn 2025 as one of Hungary’s most serious child‑protection and political scandals, after evidence emerged that children in the institution were systematically physically and sexually abused over years. Juhász, who became director amid well‑known rumours of inappropriate relationships with underage girls, was arrested in May 2025 on suspicion of human trafficking and forced prostitution, allegations that triggered a wave of testimonies from former inmates.
Investigators later expanded the case to cover his earlier leadership at the Budapest Correctional Institute, and several other managers from Szőlő Street were also taken into custody. The government, under pressure, first placed the institution under the oversight of the prison service and later shut it down, relocating the youths to a new section in the Tököl prison complex.
The KDNP’s denial and political fallout
The reference to “uncle Zsolti” has drawn a sharp political response from the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP), whose spokesman, Lőrinc Nacsa, has dismissed Sándor’s account as a “complete fabrication” and announced that the party will pursue legal action (even though no one, neither Sándor nor the reporter, mentioned anything that had to do with KDNP).
KDNP leader Zsolt Semjén has previously accused critics of waging an “orchestrated character‑assassination” against him when asked in parliament who “uncle Zsolti” might be, comparing the attacks to a “blood libel”‑style smear.
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