Péter Szijjártó drops lawsuit he filed against Telex over our article on Samsung case

Former Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó has withdrawn his lawsuit against Telex, which he filed this spring after the publication of our article that broke the Samsung story. The court officially dismissed the case on August 25. With the closing of the case, Péter Szijjártó must reimburse Telex 825,500 forints (€ 2260) in legal costs, in addition to which he must also pay a filing fee of 3,150 forints.

On February 9 of this year, we published an article titled “Viktor stripped the factory of protection” which detailed the poisoning incidents at the Samsung factory in Göd and the previous administration's handling of them. Although after the article's publication, several of the parties involved—including Samsung and the government agency overseeing the factory—claimed that it contained falsehoods, they have not refuted any of the specific claims made in the article, nor have they submitted a correction request.

The day after publication, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that he would file a complaint against Telex, and when interviewed by our colleagues, he repeatedly told them: “I’ll see you in court!” However, he did not file a criminal complaint at that time; he merely submitted a request for a correction, in which he took issue with only two sentences in our article. We rejected his request.

At that point, Péter Szijjártó would have had the opportunity to file a libel suit, which in the first instance would have likely concluded before the election. However, he did not file such a suit.

Instead, he filed a so-called personality rights lawsuit, which was unlikely to even begin proceedings before the election. As expected, no hearing was held on the merits of the case until the summer judicial recess; the proceedings only reached the stage of preparatory statements. Telex submitted a motion, requesting a court hearing of Péter Szijjártó and Antal Rogán.

On July 15, the former foreign minister announced that he would continue his career at BYD, and then on July 16, he withdrew his lawsuit against Telex, so the court closed the proceedings on August 25. As of the date the order to dismiss the case became final, Péter Szijjártó has 15 days to pay Telex the 825,500 forint in litigation costs.

“Viktor stripped the factory of protection-the cover-up at Samsung's Hungarian battery plant and how the government mishandled it” is Telex’s most-read article to date; and is available here.

Just as we have done so far, at Telex, we will continue to work to uncover the stories that those in power are most eager to keep hidden.

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