The Debrecen Regional Investigating Prosecutor’s Office filed charges in April 2025 against a doctor previously assigned to the healthcare department of the Tiszalök National Penitentiary, as well as the former department head, for two counts of abuse in official proceedings. A currently serving nurse was also charged with the military offense of failing to report a crime, the Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office announced.
According to the statement, the Military Panel of the Debrecen Court delivered its first-instance verdict on October 13, 2025, finding all three defendants guilty. The former prison doctor and the ex-healthcare department head were both sentenced to 2 years and 6 months of imprisonment and banned from healthcare work for 5 years. Their third associate received a fine of HUF 540,000.
The facts established at trial indicate that one of the defendants, intending to deter prisoners from unnecessary medical examinations, proposed to the doctor defendant that a chili pepper concentrate, obtained with the help of an accomplice later convicted, be mixed into a medically used liquid disinfectant. The doctor was then to spray this mixture onto examination instruments and the gloves used during checkups.
In line with the agreement, in September 2022, the doctor conducted examinations on two inmates that caused burning, stinging pain, dizziness, and coughing. Their third associate, present as a medical clerk, became aware of the contaminated liquid’s use but failed to report the crime to the commanding officer of the penitentiary. Instead, they hid the bottle and later destroyed its contents in November 2022 to prevent further use.
Following the first-instance verdict, the prosecution appealed, seeking longer prison sentences and professional bans for the two main defendants, and demotion in the military for the third defendant instead of a fine.
The two main defendants and their defense lawyers also appealed, seeking acquittal. The Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office recently submitted a second-instance motion to the Military Panel of the Budapest Court of Appeal, requesting harsher sentences for the two main defendants in line with the prosecution’s appeal, and a higher fine plus demotion in rank for the third defendant, while simultaneously rejecting the defense appeals.
(MTI)
