Reaction of Dávid Korányi, President of Action for Democracy to the interview with Tamás Lánczi
13 February 2024
On behalf of Action for Democracy (A4D), I firmly reject the statements made by Tamás Lánczi, the head of the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty, as published in KESMA newspapers. These statements are based on falsehoods, distortions, and insinuations. At the same time, I am initiating a lawsuit for violations of rights relating to personality against Tamás Lánczi. We are also considering the initiation of criminal proceedings in connection with the manipulated recordings released in the Hungarian government propaganda media.
As the European Parliament and local elections approach, attacks on my person and our organization have once again become a regular occurrence. Most prominent of these is the operation that recorded our informal conversations in August 2023 using secret service methods, and subsequently published them in an edited, manipulative form. The publication of these months-old conversations on the very day the Putin-style Office for the Protection of Sovereignty was launched shows that government propagandists are once again using us to divert attention from the country’s real problems. The timing of the inquiry’s announcement is hardly a coincidence: the authorities are using every means at their disposal to divert attention from the scandal that led to President Katalin Novák’s resignation.
The manipulated recordings support neither the unfounded accusations of Lánczi and other government propagandists nor the outlandish speculations that A4D may have been supporting political parties with cash. For this reason, I am filing a lawsuit for violations of rights relating to personality against the head of the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty for his smears and false allegations. At the same time, on account of the circumstances surrounding the making, recording and manipulation of the recordings, we are considering initiating criminal proceedings in both the United States and Hungary.
The sole purpose of the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty, a mere 'showcase' institution, is to service the Orbán government's communication goals, to silence the remaining independent press and to intimidate civil society. The Office is thus just another tool of Rogán’s propaganda, another way of wasting public money. The blatant illegality and illegitimacy of the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty is also evident in the international arena: last week, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings against Hungary, since the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty is in breach of a series of EU laws.
Action for Democracy always operates within the confines of the law, in accordance with applicable US and Hungarian regulations. Over the past two years, our work has been supported by thousands of individual donors who care about protecting democratic institutions in Hungary and around the world. We do not communicate the identity of our donors in full compliance with the law, precisely to protect them from such vile, intimidating attacks. We have never supported political parties or party political campaigns, in Hungary, Poland or elsewhere. We have only supported and continue to support civic initiatives that empower organizations committed to upholding democratic values, causes, and institutions, which authoritarian leaders seek to suppress. This is both our right and our moral duty.