György Szilvásy (born April 29, 1958,

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

) is a Hungarian politician, a former minister in the cabinet of

Ferenc Gyurcsány Ferenc Gyurcsány (; born 4 June 1961) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009. Prior to that, he held the position of Government of Hungary, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sp ...

supervising the secret service.

Education and career

He obtained an economic degree in the academic specialization of international relations in 1982 from Marx Károly Közgazdaságtudományi Egyetem (today Corvinus University). In 1985 he obtained a doctoral title. In the Prime Minister's Office (MEH), of

Imre Pozsgay Imre András Pozsgay (''Pozsgay Imre'', ; 26 November 1933 – 25 March 2016) was a Hungarian Communist politician who played a key role in Hungary's transition to democracy after 1988. He served as Minister of Culture (1976–1980), Minister o ...

he worked as a government chief counselor on a Ministers of State secretariat in 1989. He was also the spokesman of the Hungarian Young Communist League (KISZ) central committee in the same year (previously he was KISZ leader at the university). He met Ferenc Gyurcsány, who became Prime Minister at KISZ during this time. Between 1989 and 1990 he was on the supervisory board of

Magyar Televízió Magyar Televízió (, ''Hungarian Television'') or MTV is a nationwide public television broadcasting organization in Hungary. Headquartered in Budapest, it is the oldest television broadcaster in Hungary and today airs five channels: M1 HD, ...

and

Magyar Rádió Magyar Rádió (, MR, ''The Hungarian Radio Corporation'', also known as ''Radio Budapest'') was Hungary's publicly funded radio broadcasting organisation until 2015. It was also the country's official international broadcasting station. Since ...

, and held a position as under-secretary in Prime Minister's Office (MEH). Between 1998 and 2000 he was the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Altus corp. the company owned by his close friend

. Soon after Gyurcsány became Prime Minister he appointed Szilvásy as his minister of the chancellery. Between 2006 and 2007 Szilvásy was leading Cabinet Minister of the office of the Prime Minister. After June 2007 he became minister supervising the secret service. He lost that position after

Gordon Bajnai György Gordon Bajnai (; born 5 March 1968) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and economist, who served as the Prime Minister of Hungary from 2009 to 2010. Prior to that, he functioned as Government of Hungary, Minister of Local Government and Regiona ...

succeeded Gyurcsány as Prime Minister.

Criminal charge and trial

He was arrested in July 2011. News channel

Hír TV Hír TV is a Hungarian television news channel, the first of such made in the country. It began broadcasting on 2 January 2003. History Initial years On 26 November 2002, the TV channel was registered using 20 million Hungarian forints (~64 ...

reported on 1 July evening that a house search had been carried out at the home of Szilvásy. According to Hír TV, the house search was connected to a statement by Lajos Galambos, former chief director of the National Security Office (NBH) who was under house arrest on espionage charges. The main opposition

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

stands up for György Szilvásy, believes that he is innocent and expresses solidarity with the former minister in charge of the secret services during the Gyurcsány government, Socialist leader

Attila Mesterházy Attila Mesterházy (born 30 January 1974) is a Hungarian politician, who served as the seventh chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) from 10 July 2010 to 29 May 2014. He was a Member of Parliament between 2004 and 2022. He was the par ...

said on 2 July. Ferenc Gyurcsány said on

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earlier on that day that he had been informed by Szilvásy’s family that the former minister is suspected of criminal activities against the state. On 5 July 2013, a court in

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

sentenced in a non-final ruling Szilvásy and Galambos to two years and ten months in prison for espionage. The trial was held in full secrecy and the files of the case have been classified until 2040 because, as the prosecution put it, “several state secrets have emerged during the lawsuit”. Szilvásy told MTI that he had been sentenced without any evidence brought up during the trial. The opposition Socialists said they believed in Szilvásy’s innocence. As long as the files of the case are classified, the Socialist consider the lawsuit against Szilvásy to be based on trumped-up charges, Socialist leader Mesterházy said. Ex-premier Ferenc Gyurcsány, leader of the leftist Democratic Coalition, expressed solidarity with his former minister. Gyurcsány called it characteristic of the “absurd world of the Orbán government” that, for the first time since the 1950s, a former minister has been sentenced to a term in prison. The opposition E14- PM electoral alliance called for the files of the case to be made public. Commenting the sentence, a

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; ) is a national-conservative political party in Hungary led by Viktor Orbán. It has increasingly identified as illiberal. Originally formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young Democrats () as ...

spokesman said that “a key figure of the mafia left wing could be put behind bars”.

Máté Kocsis Máté Kocsis (born 6 May 1981) is a Hungarian jurist, sports administrator and politician, who served as Mayor of Józsefváros (8th district of Budapest) from 2009 to 2018. He also represents Józsefváros (Budapest Constituency XI then VI) in ...

called Szilvásy a close associate of Gyurcsány, ex-premier

and Mesterhazy, whom he co-blamed for “destroying the country both economically and morally”. It is, therefore, no surprise that they have expressed solidarity with him, he said.

Family

Szilvásy is married, with two children. One of his brothers, Péter Szilvásy called attention to himself with operating the so-calle
Kormányzati Tanácsadó Jósda
in 2007. His other brother, István Szilvásy is heading the national medical centre (ÁEK) from 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szilvasy, Gyorgy Secret ministers of Hungary Hungarian Socialist Party politicians Living people 1958 births Corvinus University of Budapest alumni