A man owed fifty thousand euros to two Ukrainian-Hungarian citizens who, back in July 2023, called their debtor to the parking lot of a department store in Debrecen – but not to discuss repayment details. Instead, one of them threatened to break his leg if he didn’t hand over his phone and get into the car, reports üyészség.hu based on the indictment of the summer 2023 case.
According to the indictment, the Russian-Ukrainian perpetrators transported the man to the house of an older helper in a small settlement in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, taking 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 man to the garage in the yard of the house, where the younger perpetrator abused him 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 guarding and care. 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 a friend to borrow a total of HUF 700,000, which was immediately converted into euros. The man also wanted to ask his relatives for money, but they were not at home, so his captors took him back to the house and chained him again.
A few days later, he was taken to Hajdúszoboszlo again, where he asked a friend to borrow it. The man told his acquaintance that he was in trouble, so the next day, when his captors took him to pick up the borrowed money and they were waiting in the car, the man got into his friend’s car and drove away. They immediately went 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 Prosecutor General’s Office proposed in its indictment that the Debrecen Court of Justice conduct the proceedings in the absence of the two accused. The Hajdú-Bihar County Prosecutor’s Office accuses the perpetrators and their accomplices of aggravated kidnapping, and those involved in the abuse with serious bodily harm.
