Hungary has gone Vaxx-mad

Anyone who forges or uses an immunity certificate or modifies or deletes any data from the information system could face up to five years in prison, according to a Hungarian Official Gazette published on Saturday.

The government decree on “combating the misuse of immunity certificates” stipulates that anyone shall be punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of up to five years who forges a false public or private document; falsifies the contents of a public or private document; uses a false, forged or genuine public or private document in the name of another person; enters, alters, deletes or makes inaccessible data in the information system without authorisation or in violation of the limits of his or her authorisation.

It is also a criminal offence to circulate or trade a public or private document, or create, issue on the market or trade in a password or computer program which is necessary or facilitates the creation of a criminal offence.

The government decree, signed by Viktor Orbán, penalising the misuse of the immunity certificate, will enter into force on Sunday 2 May.

Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office, announced at the government briefing on Thursday that the Criminal Code will be amended and that forgery of immunity certificates will become a qualified offence. He also stressed that businesses that fail to check the existence of plastic cards could be fined from 100,000 to 1 million forints or even imprisoned for a year.”

Kristóf Gál said at the press conference that the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NNI)’s cybercrime unit has launched investigations against virus-sceptics for spreading rumours. According to one of the investigations against György G?dény, the police found that the suspect had published an article in which he made allegations against mask wearing and the danger of the coronavirus epidemic.

The statements, which were widely circulated, were, in the view of the police, likely to hinder or even thwart the epidemic control

– Kristóf Gál said.

The police have recently completed their investigation and forwarded the case file to the prosecutor’s office with a recommendation for indictment. Investigations into the other rumours are still ongoing. György G?dény and his family organised several illegal demonstrations in Heroes’ Square during the winter to protest against the strict measures caused by the epidemic. Among other things, the speakers made such witty statements like a gigantic human experiment was taking place, and he trivialised the threat of the coronavirus, and most of the demonstrators were not even wearing masks. G?dény, by the way, has racked up millions in fines over the past few months, as he has organised several demonstrations with his virus denier friends to show their disagreement with the strict security measures to protect people’s lives, and they have instead taken to protesting in Budapest in their hundreds.”