The court significantly reduced the sentence imposed earlier against the evangelical pastor accused of harassment and light physical assault. The former socialist parliamentarian only has to pay a fine. Donáth took note of the verdict, but the prosecution announced an appeal, so it is not legally binding.

Judgment was announced by II.-III. district court in the case of the evangelical pastor László Donáth accused of sexual harassment.

The father of Momentumos EP representative Anna Donáth was reported by an employee of the Békásmegyeri Evangélikus Szeretetház Gaudiopolis after, according to him, the pastor abused him in connection with a conflict in June 2019. The incident happened when the woman left her manual cleaning cart in front of a painting in one of the corridors of the Charity House. According to the employee, the pastor roughly questioned him about why he pushed the cleaning cart near the picture, and even strangled him because of it.

According to the indictment, the former MSZP representative also approached the victim sexually in several cases, held her captive and made offers to her.

The prosecutor's office brought charges against Donáth for minor bodily harm committed for a nefarious reason and persistent indecent assault.

In February 2021, the court found the former politician guilty in his sentence without a trial and

sentenced him to one and a half years in prison, the execution of which was suspended for two and a half years of probation.

The pastor denied the accusations throughout the procedure, so he did not accept the decision and asked for the hearing to be held. At the hearing held at the beginning of September, he also gave a short testimony, in which he admitted in relation to the specific case that he spoke to the employee in irritation, putting his hand on his shoulder. What Donáth said to the woman in his anger, he said one thing before the court and another during his interrogation. At the last hearing, he remembered that the question "Have you ever been depressed?" he asked the woman a question, but during the suspicion process he remembered an even harsher sentence, namely: "I'll wring your neck if this happens again!"

At the same time, he denied that he had committed a minor bodily injury, as well as that he had made sexual offers to the woman and held her.

In its first-instance verdict announced on Monday, the court significantly reduced the previous sentence:

He found Donáth only guilty of defamation, and terminated the criminal proceedings for the continued indecency.

The former Member of Parliament must pay a fine of HUF six hundred thousand in total. The court saw the occurrence of the specific case as proven, i.e. that Donáth called the employee whose neck he squeezed to account.

At the same time, it had to be decided whether this was considered an act of defamation or light physical injury. However, since it was not confirmed that the woman's injury resulted from this conflict, only defamation could be established. According to the court, although as a leader it may have been legitimate to be held accountable by the pastor, this is not the way to do it.

The defendant took note of the first-degree verdict, but the prosecution appealed in order to establish guilt or to aggravate the case, so the decision is not legally binding.

Source: mandiner.hu

Featured image: Magyar Hírlap