On January 21, 2021, the Debrecen District Court announced a decision on the case of the defendant who had called the victim and his relatives thousands of times out of jealousy and anger. The 23-year-old man admitted to committing the crime he was charged with, and waived his right to a trial, which the court accepted.
The 23-year-old defendant and the victim met in 2017, and then a friendly relationship developed between them. Later, the defendant indicated to the man that he felt more than friendship, so in April 2018, the victim severed all contact with the defendant. The man then tried to call the victim from several of the telephones he was using, and then, having no results, called his relatives. Then, out of anger, the defendant arbitrarily interfered in the victims’ private life, harassing him regularly and permanently by telephone.
The court found the defendant with no criminal record guilty of 5 counts of harassment, therefore he was fined HUF 168,000 and fined 150 hours for work in the public interest.
The man harassed the five victims on the phone a total of 3,850 times between April and July 2018. In addition, the defendant repeatedly diverted calls to the victims’ phone numbers to his own phone number. He was able to successfully initiate call forwarding through the telephone customer service due to an “administrative error” with the service provider.
The court’s judgment became final as it was noted by both the prosecutor and the defendant.
Debrecen General Court
