The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Hungarian authorities on Wednesday to immediately drop all espionage charges against investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi.

Panyi is an investigative journalist covering Hungarian national security, foreign policy, and Russian and Chinese influence. He recently reported on alleged ties between Hungarian political actors and Russia. The investigation sparked accusations from Hungarian authorities, who claim that Panyi is a spy for Ukraine.

On March 23, the Sovereignty Protection Office, an agency that monitors and investigates foreign influence in Hungary, launched a smear campaign against Panyi, accusing him of working for a foreign influence network.

The situation escalated when Mandier, a Hungarian news outlet, published an edited recording in which Panyi appeared to discuss a phone number used by Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó in communications with a Russian counterpart. On March 26, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government charged Panyi of spying for a foreign state.

Panyu rejected the allegation that he had collaborated with any foreign intelligence service. Responsing to charges against him, he wrote on X:

I have never engaged in espionage. I see my work as journalistic counterintelligence—from exposing the hacking of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry by Russian actors to revealing the activities of Hungarian pro-Kremlin propagandists.

Following accusations, Panyi’s outlet, VSquare—a central European investigative outlet run by Polish group Fundacja Reporterów—stood against the government action in a public statement.

“We will not be intimidated. We will continue to do investigative journalism, serving the public interest, our readers, and the very democracy that Orbán so clearly despises,” the outlet said.

Panyi, who also works for the Hungarian non-profit investigative outlet Direkt36, has faced similar prior accusations. Previously, he was identified as one of the five journalists, at least 10 lawyers, and a opposition politician targeted with Israeli‑made Pegasus spyware in 2021.