On Friday, Magyar Péter posted on his Facebook page that he had won a lawsuit at the Debrecen Regional Court against Mediaworks Hungary Zrt. in the so-called “cockroach” case.
According to the court’s ruling, Mediaworks violated Magyar Péter’s personality rights related to the protection of his honor and human dignity by referring to him as a “cockroach” in an article published on Haon, while Magyar Nemzet wrote that he should be “removed from the path of normal life” and, in another article, depicted him as a cockroach in illustrations.
Under the court’s decision, Mediaworks Hungary Zrt. was ordered to issue an apology and was prohibited in the future from:
- calling Magyar Péter a “cockroach,”
- placing the word “cockroach” before the politician’s name,
- writing that Magyar Péter should be removed from the path of normal life,
- or portraying him as a cockroach in any illustration.
The Debrecen Regional Court ordered Mediaworks to pay HUF 1.2 million in damages for non-pecuniary harm and also required the company to publish a notice titled “Statement regarding our article calling Magyar Péter a cockroach” on the Haon and Magyar Nemzet websites, in such a way that clicking the link displays the relevant part of the court’s judgment.
In addition, the court ordered Mediaworks to publish the following apology:
“Dear Mr. Magyar Péter,
Regarding the statements made in the article titled ‘Tamás Menczer did not spare Magyar Péter’ published on www.haon.hu on March 22, 2025, as well as in the articles titled ‘The 12 points and the cockroaches’ published on www.magyarnemzet.hu on March 17, 2025, and ‘Cockroach Peti became a meme’ published on March 18, 2025, in which we made statements violating your right to honor and human dignity by calling you a cockroach and referring to you as ‘Cockroach Peti,’ ‘A cockroach that must be removed from the path of normal human life,’ as well as through illustrations depicting a cockroach labeled ‘Magyar Péter,’ sprayed with a national-colored insecticide, trampled by a black boot bearing the national coat of arms under the caption ‘I am also a Hungarian cockroach exterminator!,’ and an image in which your likeness appeared in place of the insect’s head, we hereby express our regret.
We sincerely apologize for the above violation of your personality rights. In the future, we will refrain from referring to you as a cockroach or portraying you as an insect in any context or textual environment.”
As previously reported, last November the court had already prohibited Mediaworks from depicting Magyar Péter as a cockroach. The use of the “cockroach” label first appeared in Viktor Orbán’s speech on March 15, 2025, after which it was adopted by pro-government newspapers, propaganda outlets, government-aligned influencers, and Fidesz politicians.
Two court rulings favorable to Magyar Péter were issued this week as well. In January, following a repeated procedure, the Budapest Metropolitan Court, at first instance, ordered Index to issue a correction regarding its articles about the Tisza Party’s alleged tax plans. The court also ruled that the 600-page document presented by the pro-government Index in November—allegedly containing the Tisza Party’s economic policy plans—was in fact not connected to the Tisza Party.
Last December, the Budapest Metropolitan Court prohibited the distribution of Bors newspaper’s special 2025 “Tisza Package” issue, which discussed the Tisza Party’s alleged tax plans. According to the court, the newspaper did not contact the Tisza Party, did not publish its position, and yet the 16-page publication focused exclusively on the party. The ruling emphasized that the Tisza Party had publicly stated that the documents presented by Index were not part of its program, and that the publisher should have been aware of this.