László Kövér, Speaker of the National Assembly, fined Péter Jakab, the leader of the Jobbik faction, for HUF 4.4 million (EUR 12,000) following Jakab’s actions last week, when he wanted to put a bag of potatoes on the table for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in parliament last week.
At last Monday’s session, Jakab first called Orbán a “potato king,” referring to the by-elections and elections, when several politicians handed out potatoes to the poor. According to the politician, in the by-elections in Borsod this month, many people voted for Fidesz because the ruling party gave them free potatoes.
He said, “all I could do was give the “dear leader” [a reference to North Korea’s former communist dictator, Kim Jong-il] a gift with the potatoes that Fidesz had been distributing in Borsod and all over the country for ten years now to see what it is like to value a person so much.”
Jakab then tried to put the bag of potatoes in front of Orbán, but this was prevented by pro-government politicians, including Máté Kocsis and Zsolt Semjén. László Kövér also touched Jakab, which Jobbik communicated in such a way that Kövér pushed the faction leader.
Photo via Péter Jakab’s Facebook page
However, this was not the end of the case, and the Speaker of the House imposed an unprecedented fine of HUF 4.4 million on Jakab for his action, according to the MP, who reported on the fine on his official Facebook page. Jakab has already been one of the most punished MPs so far in parliament; however, no such amount has been imposed before. The penalty is twice the monthly salary of the Jobbik leader, which is HUF 2.2 million.
The right-wing MP told Alfahír, a news portal with close ties to Jobbik, that they would appeal the sentence to the immunity committee. The faction leader said “this is how the regime works, that whoever tells the truth, namely that the regime keeps the Hungarians in poverty and buys them with a bag of potatoes, will be fined for four and a half million,” adding that, in his opinion, the government was following Belarus’ path.
featured photo: screenshot from Jobbik’s video
