Hungarian citizen forced to work as a slave for over a year in Băile Tușnad (Tusnádfürdő)

A 46-year-old woman and her 20-year-old son allegedly forced a 56-year-old Hungarian citizen to work in their household in Băile Tușnad (Tusnádfürdő) for more than a year. According to the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), the man was beaten, had his documents confiscated, and even the wages he earned abroad were taken from him. The Harghita County Court placed both suspects in thirty-day pre-trial detention.

According to DIICOT, the man lived in the family's house in Băile Tușnad from the end of September 2025 until November 4 this year, where he usually had to work from five in the morning until late at night. Besides work around the house, he picked mushrooms and blueberries, which the woman sold, worked as a day laborer picking potatoes, and also drove the family around; this past summer the son took him to Germany and the Netherlands for agricultural work. The man picked strawberries and worked on a flower plantation, but according to the prosecution, his wages were collected entirely by the son. In Băile Tușnad he slept on a mattress on the floor of a windowless room and was not allowed to use the toilet or shower in the house. While others collected the money he earned through his work, his only income came from returning plastic bottles he collected from the trash. According to the prosecutors, his ID card, driver's license and residence permit were kept from him so that he could not leave. After a car accident, the son demanded a thousand euros from him and made his departure conditional on paying the sum, but he never considered the debt settled. ziuaconstanta.ro

During the search of the house, the man's ID card was found in the woman's possession. The prosecution took the two suspects into custody on November 5, and that same evening the court ordered their thirty-day detention starting November 6. They are being prosecuted for human trafficking and forced labor.

Ugar