Kidnapping in Debrecen: they chained their victim

The Hajdú-Bihar County Prosecutor’s Office brought charges of kidnapping against two fugitive criminals and the family that helped them.

According to the essence of the indictment, the victim bribed two Ukrainian-Hungarian citizens with 50,000 euros, who invited the man to the parking lot of a department store in Debrecen on the evening of July 21, 2023. However, they did not talk about repayment there, but one of them approached him and threatened to break his leg if he did not hand over his mobile phone and get into their car. The perpetrators transported the victim to the house of their senior helper in a small settlement in the Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties, and forcibly took his documents on the way. The man’s two adult sons and daughters also lived in the house of their helper, who knew about the crime, and all three helped the perpetrators.

The perpetrators took the victim to the garage in the yard of the house, where the younger perpetrator abused her with his fists, a stick and a metal baseball bat handed over by the girl. As a result, the man suffered injuries that took more than eight days to heal.

His captors then tied the man to his feet with a chain, and held him captive for days, while demanding that he pay his debts. They threatened to kill him and his family if he tried to escape. The two children took care of the man’s care and maintenance. The victim did not dare to stretch the chain and run away, because he was afraid of the threat and the fighting dog kept in the yard.

After two days, the perpetrators transported the man to Hajdúszoboszlo, where he repeatedly asked an acquaintance to borrow HUF 700,000 in total, which was immediately converted into euros. The victim also wanted to ask his relatives for money, but they were not at home, so his kidnappers took the man back to the house and chained him again.

Days later, their debtor was taken to Hajdúszoboszlo again, where he asked a friend for a loan. The victim told the man that he was in trouble, so the next day when his captors took him to the place where he received the borrowed money, while they waited in the car, the victim got into his friend’s car and drove away. Their journey led to the local police station, where the man filed a report.

The perpetrators escaped, European and international arrest warrants are in force against them, while the helping father and his children were detained by the police and have been under arrest since the incident.

The Hajdú-Bihar County Prosecutor’s Office charges the perpetrators and their accomplices with the more serious crime of kidnapping, and those involved in the abuse with the crime of grievous bodily harm. In his indictment, he proposed that the Debrecen Tribunal conduct the proceedings in the absence of the two culprits. According to the General Prosecutor’s Office’s moderate motion, if the accomplices admit to committing the crime, the court should sentence the father to 7 years and his children to 5 years in prison, and ban them from practicing public affairs for 7 and 5 years, respectively, and confiscate the means of abuse and detention.