MEP Daniel Freund claims Viktor Orban attempted to hack his email account
A member of the European Parliament has filed a police complaint against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over an alleged attempt to install spyware on his devices.
Daniel Freund of Germany’s Green Party claimed that he was targeted by hackers in 2024 and that “Hungary is the only plausible actor in this scenario.”
“If confirmed, this would be an outrageous attack on the European Parliament,” he wrote on X on Wednesday.
In his filing, Freund and the German nonprofit Society for Civil Rights (GFF) asked the prosecutor’s office in Krefeld, as well as cybercrime centers in Cologne and Dusseldorf, to launch an investigation against Orban and an unidentified person.
In 2024, someone tried to install #spyware on my devices. Today @freiheitsrechte and I filed charges – against Viktor Orbán. #Hungary is the only plausible actor in this scenario. If confirmed, this would be an outrageous attack on the European Parliament.
According to Politico Europe, the complaint states that someone posing as a Ukrainian student sent an email containing spyware to Freund’s parliamentary address in May 2024. “According to the EU Parliament’s IT experts, the Hungarian government could be behind the eavesdropping on me,” Freund said.
A frequent critic of Hungary’s conservative government, Freund has accused Orban of eroding democracy, cracking down on domestic opposition, and engaging in corruption.
Orban, for his part, has repeatedly accused “the bureaucrats in Brussels” of warmongering and attempting to undermine Hungary’s sovereignty.
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs has often sparred with Freund on X, calling him a “clown” and a “madman.”
