The trial is over: the Court ruled that the caricature of Népszava offends Christian communities. Gábor Tóth, a staff member of sándar.hu, spoke with Imre Vejkey, KDNP parliamentary representative.

- A story of one and a half years has ended in the past few days. How did the court proceedings end in the case of the infamous caricature of Népszava?

- Gábor Pápai created a caricature defaming Jesus Christ, which actually appeared in Népssava. On the other hand, I - as a private person - started a lawsuit to protect Christian communities. On the one hand, I filed a lawsuit against the creator, and on the other hand, against the publisher Népssava, I did all this because the image offended Christian people. In the lawsuit against Népszava, the court asked me to fill in the gaps, namely in terms of what I think there is a Christian community in Hungary that needs protection.

"What could you say to that?"

- I explained to the court in eight pages, dating back to King St. István, that Hungary has been a Christian country for more than a thousand years. Respect is due to the domestic Christian communities. The trial itself was extremely interesting: in the first instance at the Capital District Court, the judge believed that this caricature was just a good-natured joke. He also added that Christians should not be cold-hearted, but should have a sense of humor.

Even though I wasn't the only one who found this picture offensive, about 30,000 supporter signatures were collected in this topic, to which he replied that it's not that many in a country of 10 million people. I was outraged by this attitude and the whole process. The next morning, András Veres, the president of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference, contacted me on the phone to inform me of his support. On the same day, the Ecumenical Council of Hungarian Churches, the United Hungarian Israelite Faith Community and the Hungarian Muslim Church also stated that it was a hurtful work. This was a huge, almost unprecedented church collaboration in Hungary. I submitted my appeal together with their statement.

"How did the trial continue?"

– In the first instance, the People's Voice was right, but in the end, we were right in the final judgment, but the People's Voice did not rest on this and turned to the Curia with an extraordinary legal remedy, a review request, which finally stated that this caricature indeed offends the Christian communities.

– There were similar cases in Western Europe. Why can the Christian faith be an object of ridicule in our time?

- Because some people disregard the feelings of the Christian community and provoke us, believers.
Just think of the fact that the International Association of Journalists and the National Association of Hungarian Journalists awarded Gábor Pápai an award for his controversial cartoon. What is this if not an annoyance? And I was put on the wall of shame for two or three months at the headquarters of the International Federation of Journalists in Geneva. Saying that I am the one obstructing free speech - by standing up Jesus Christ .

"Is there really such a wall of shame?"

"Yes, they even sent a notification that I was put up there." I didn't have to wait long, my fellow Christian Democrat representative Tristan Azbej also received this "award". But we don't have to worry about this, since whoever stands up for the truth of Jesus Christ - and is shamed for it - can fill a person with pride after all.

2022plus: Our question to the president of the National Judicial Office: is the lady who found the disgraceful caricature funny and the Christians stupid, still a judge today? Can the person who demanded proof of the existence of Christian communities still be a judge today? If so, you have a very big problem.

We have no questions for MÚOSZ. They are good communists and globalists, we are not surprised by them. At most, they call themselves the national association of Hungarian journalists.

Source and title image: vasarnap.hu/Gábor Tóth