Hungarian police have handed a 22-year-old Hungarian man over to Danish authorities in the case of a 15-year-old girl from Hedensted. The girl disappeared in early August and was found in Hungary days later.
The transfer took place on Wednesday, DR reports. According to an email from the press office of Hungary’s National Police, the Hungarian citizen was handed to Danish authorities that day. The press office referred further questions to the Danish authorities.
Hungarian authorities state that the 22-year-old is suspected of having established a relationship with the Danish girl with the purpose of later committing sexual offenses against her. Per Hungarian police, the contact began on social media, and the man is accused of manipulating the girl because of her young age and inexperience.
Hungarian authorities also suspect him of transporting the girl from Denmark to Hungary on August 4 together with an unknown accomplice. The man was previously charged at a court hearing in Horsens. DR notes that the exact wording of the Danish charge cannot be reported because of reporting restrictions.
The girl was found on August 6
Sydøstjyllands Politi stated that the girl left her home in Hedensted on Tuesday, August 4, and was found alive in Hungary two days later. According to the force’s August 6 statement, she was located after cooperation with Hungarian police and Europol. A later police update said she had been brought back to Denmark and reunited with her family.
The same force said on August 11 that a man had been arrested in Hungary on the basis of a Danish-issued European arrest warrant, and that Danish police had requested his extradition for prosecution in Denmark. DR reports that the 22-year-old had been in pre-trial detention in Hungary since that date. Sydøstjyllands Politi has no comment on the extradition at this stage.
BT writes that Hungarian court documents describe the Danish case as involving suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty, child exploitation and offenses related to child abuse material. Ekstra Bladet reports that the suspicion concerns aggravated unlawful deprivation of liberty against the 15-year-old.
Earlier in the case, Hungarian police told Ritzau that no available information, including the girl’s own statement, indicated she had been the victim of a crime, as reported by Nordjyske. The same outlet noted that the man has publicly claimed he believed the girl was 18. Those claims have not been tested in court.
On August 12, DR reported that a Hungarian court had linked the extradition to Danish guarantees that any sentence would be served in Hungary, with a deadline of August 21 for such assurances.
