Béla Kovács (politician, 1960)

{{Short description|Hungarian politician}}

{{eastern name order|Kovács Béla}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Béla Kovács

| honorific-suffix = MEP

| image =

| office = Member of the European Parliament

| term_start = 10 May 2010

| term_end = 1 July 2019

| constituency = Hungary

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|2|25|df=y}}

| birth_place = Budapest, Hungary

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = {{flag|Hungary|name=Hungarian}}:
Independent
{{flag|EU}}:
Non-Inscrits

| otherparty = Jobbik (until 2016)

| spouse = Svetlana Istoshina

| children = 1

| alma_mater = University of Budapest

| website =

}}

Béla Kovács (born 25 February 1960) is a Hungarian former politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Hungary between 2010 and 2019. He is a former member of Jobbik, which he joined in 2003 and left in 2016.{{Cite news|url=https://jobbik.com/statement_of_jobbik_on_aenm|title=Statement of Jobbik on AENM|date=2018-02-20|work=jobbik.com|access-date=2018-02-21|language=en|archive-date=2019-03-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321161726/https://www.jobbik.com/statement_of_jobbik_on_aenm|url-status=dead}}

He was elected President of the Alliance of European National Movements (AENM) on 17 December 2013, replacing Bruno Gollnisch.

The Hungarian government accused Kovács of engaging in espionage against European Union institutions for the Russian government. In September 2014, the Hungarian public prosecutor asked the European Parliament to suspend Kovács's MEP immunity so that he could be investigated.{{Cite web |url=http://www.politics.hu/20140910/jobbik-spy-case-stuck-in-brussels/ |title=Jobbik spy case stuck in Brussels |access-date=2014-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032649/http://www.politics.hu/20140910/jobbik-spy-case-stuck-in-brussels/ |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }} The European Parliament lifted the immunity on 14 October 2015.{{cite news |url=http://www.euractiv.com/sections/europes-east/parliament-lifts-hungarian-meps-immunity-over-russia-spy-probe-318523 |title=Parliament lifts Hungarian MEP's immunity over Russia spy probe |agency=AFP |work=EurActiv |date= 15 October 2015|accessdate=26 October 2015}}

In September 2022 the Curia of Hungary sentenced him in absentia to five years imprisonment for espionage. He lives and teaches in Russia.{{cite web | url=https://hungarytoday.hu/former-jobbik-mep-sentenced-for-espionage-for-russia/ | title=Former Jobbik MEP Sentenced for Espionage for Russia | date=28 September 2022 }}

Béla Kovács's Russian father served in the military and his son has been 'known to the KGB almost from the day he was born'.[http://index.hu/belfold/2014/09/28/a_glorious_match_made_in_russia/ index.hu] Kovacs grew up with foster parents and moved with them to Japan in 1976, where in 1979 he met his 7 years older Russian wife Svetlana Istoshina, who was in Japan due to an earlier marriage (1975) to a Japanese nuclear scientist who had worked in Russia and Kazakhstan, Omiya Massanori.{{Cite web |title=The secret life of Bela Kovacs |url=https://www.europeanpressprize.com/article/the-secret-life-of-bela-kovacs/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=European Press Prize}} Kovacs married Istoshina in 1986. Istoshina was also brlefly married to an Austrian man, convicted criminal Mario Schön, in 1983, four years after meeting Kovacs,{{Cite web |title=The secret life of Bela Kovacs |url=https://www.europeanpressprize.com/article/the-secret-life-of-bela-kovacs/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=European Press Prize}} and holds Austrian citizenship.{{Cite web |title=The secret life of Bela Kovacs |url=https://www.europeanpressprize.com/article/the-secret-life-of-bela-kovacs/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=European Press Prize}}

Kovacs lived in Russia from 1988 to 2003 and claims to have worked in the "leadership of various trading companies" during this time.{{Cite web |last=Panyi |first=Szabolcs |date=2017-10-04 |title=The great escape of 'KGBéla', Hungarian MEP accused of spying for Russia |url=https://vsquare.org/the-great-escape-of-kgb/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=VSquare.org |language=en-US}} Journalists have however found no traces of Kovacs or his wife in registers of Russian companies, or articles in Russian newspapers about Kovacs's supposed business career{{Cite web |last=Panyi |first=Szabolcs |date=2017-10-04 |title=The great escape of 'KGBéla', Hungarian MEP accused of spying for Russia |url=https://vsquare.org/the-great-escape-of-kgb/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=VSquare.org |language=en-US}} He has also studied international relations at MGIMO university in Moscow.{{Cite web |last=András |first=Dezső |date=2014-09-28 |title=A glorious match made in Russia |url=http://index.hu/belfold/2014/09/28/a_glorious_match_made_in_russia/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=index.hu |language=en}}