Request for the waiver of parliamentary immunity of Agnes Hankiss

The European Parliament decided to waive immunity of Ágnes HANKISS (EPP, HU).

The Central District Court of Buda, Budapest (HU) requested the waiver of immunity of Ágnes Hankiss, a Member of the Parliament, in order to conduct criminal proceedings relating to an alleged offence of defamation. The Central District Court opened renewed proceedings on 31 March 2010. However, the proceedings were suspended on the grounds that Ágnes Hankiss enjoyed parliamentary immunity as a Member of the Parliament.

In the present case, Parliament finds that, according to Article 9 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union, the case does not come within the scope of Ágnes Hankiss’s political activities as Member of the Parliament. Instead, it concerns a statement made in 2004, long before she was elected a Member of the Parliament. Parliament has also found no evidence of fumus persecutionis, i.e. a sufficiently serious and precise suspicion that the case has been brought with the intention of causing political damage to the Member.

Therefore, the European Parliament had decided to waive the immunity of Ágnes HANKISS.