Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has accused Ukraine of institutionalized violence in its military recruitment practices, following the death of 45-year-old ethnic Hungarian József Sebestyén from Transcarpathia.
In a Facebook video posted on Wednesday, Szijjártó alleged that by refusing to investigate the case, Ukrainian authorities had “effectively acknowledged” that forced conscription, including beatings and even killings, was “a state-institutionalized, accepted, ordered and state-managed process.”
“In a civilized, normal country, there is an immediate prosecution, the perpetrators are immediately caught and their bosses, who approved it, are immediately imprisoned, and this practice is stopped,” Szijjártó said.
“Now, such a country has no place in the European Union, let alone in the civilized world. To date, not a single word has been uttered from Brussels against forced labor… This is an acknowledgement by Brussels that they condone it.”
Last month, Hungary summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to Budapest after Sebestyén’s death. According to family members and local sources cited by Mandiner, he was ambushed by recruiters in Beregszász after trying to evade capture, tied up, beaten, and transported to a recruitment center.
Witnesses allege he was later assaulted with iron rods in Munkács before being sent to a training camp, where he collapsed.
🇺🇦❕ "If he catches ten men in a night, he's already got 80 grand. Why the fuck would he go take bullets?"
A Ukrainian conscription officer boasts he can make a nearly $2,000 bonus per night for catching ten men to send to their deaths on the front line.
He says that, working… pic.twitter.com/JJpdvwiTfW
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 5, 2025A video later emerged showing him crawling, injured, in a military camp as others mocked him, with one voice saying, “The lizard is crawling.” He died after being hospitalized and transferred to a mental hospital used for wounded soldiers.
His brother claimed on social media that Sebestyén “fought for exactly three weeks with the satanic forces attacking him with iron rods.”
Hungarian State Secretary Levente Magyar called the incident “outrageous and unacceptable,” saying, “It is outrageous to beat someone to death — especially a Hungarian — because he did not want to go to war.”
Kyiv has firmly denied the allegations. The Ukrainian army said Sebestyén, identified as József S., was legally mobilized, was not abused, and died of natural causes, citing a pulmonary embolism.
“We call on the media, the public, and representatives of foreign governments to refrain from disseminating unconfirmed or emotionally overheated information,” the Land Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.
