Zoltán Balog, Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Church in Hungary, faced mounting criticism this week for mishandling a serious abuse case while serving in the Hungarian government.
The case concerns the violent mistreatment and serious neglect of children and adults with disabilities at the Topház state care facility in Göd, northern Hungary, during Balog’s tenure as Minister of Human Resources in 2012-18. A court issued a verdict against the ministry, and other government agencies, on 27 February.
“There was awareness at the highest levels. Zoltán Balog was certainly aware, state secretaries were certainly aware”, said Steven Allen, executive director of Disability Rights NGO, Validity Foundation, which fought a seven-year legal battle on behalf of the Topház residents.
Speaking at a press conference in Budapest on 28 February, Mr Allen said: “They were not just aware of the general situation [in Hungarian care facilities] they were aware of the serious violations at Topház.”
The criticism of Balog follows revelations last month that he had a role in securing a presidential pardon for a man convicted for concealing child sexual abuse on the occasion of the Pope’s 2023 visit.
President Katalin Novák announced her resignation on 10 February in response to public outrage at her pardon for Endre Kónya, which not only remitted his sentence but set him free to work with children again in future
Balog has ignored calls for his resignation as a diocesan bishop and put his continued leadership of the Reformed Church to a forthcoming vote of its Synod.
In an oral verdict on 27 February addressing the behaviour of senior figures in what was then the Ministry of Human Resources, as well as officials in other government agencies, Dr Monika Németh-Jakabosné of the Budapest Metropolitan Court held that authorities were reduced to “passive observers” despite receiving reports of extreme levels of malpractice in the Göd facility.
Her verdict declared Hungarian state authorities legally responsible for abuse at the facility, on account of failure in their respective duties to operate and supervise it effectively. A full text of the judgement is yet to be released.
Mr Allen’s contentions about Balog’s responsibility seemed to be supported by evidence in internal documents from the Ministry of Human Resources, previously obtained by an opposition MP under parliamentary privilege. These show that senior figures were informed by government inspectors as early as October 2016 of “unacceptable violations” of residents rights at Topház, due to a lack of professionalism among care workers. However, the ministry took no action in response.
Validity’s litigation, carried out on a public interest basis, followed the release in April 2017 of its report “Straightjackets and Seclusion” which described conditions in Topház and shocked public opinion in Hungary.
The report contained distressing photographs reminiscent of images from Romanian orphanages in 1989: children confined to caged beds showing signs of starvation and adults with open wounds tied to their beds with improvised manacles and exhibiting muscle wastage and atrophied limbs. Multiple surfaces were smeared with faeces and blood.
Prior to last Wednesday’s judgement, a 2017 assessment by Hungary’s ombudsman for Fundamental Rights substantially upheld Validity’s allegations. It determined that residents’ treatment amounted to a serious instance of “inhumane and degrading treatment”.
Validity, however, continues to argue that practices at the home constituted not only neglect but also torture under definitions current in international law.
Bishop Balog did not make a statement in response to last week’s judgement.
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