Péter Polt

Biography

He finished his secondary studies at the Veres Pálné Grammar School in Budapest. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Eötvös Loránd University in 1980. Besides that he participated in postgraduate courses in the University of Strasbourg and the Hague Academy of International Law. He worked for the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic. He became an assistant lecturer in the ELTE Department of Criminal Law in 1983. He was promoted to adjunct in 1985. He worked as a lawyer between 1985 and 1995 after completing the professional examination in 1992. He served as an advisor for the Ministry of Justice from 1990 to 1995. He received Ph.D from the Pázmány Péter Catholic University in 2010.

Polt joined Fidesz in 1993. He was a parliamentary candidate during the 1994 general election but did not secure a mandate.

He was appointed general deputy of Katalin Gönczöl, the Ombudsman for Civil Rights in 1995. As a result he left the Fidesz party. In 2000 he was elected Chief Prosecutor by the National Assembly of Hungary, replacing Kálmán Györgyi. During his 6-year term he has been criticized several times. His response to the interpellations were repeatedly voted down in the plenary sessions. He was replaced by Tamás Kovács in 2006. After that he became Head of the Criminal Affairs Department of the General Prosecutor's Office.

President Pál Schmitt nominated Polt to the position of Chief Prosecutor in 2010. The Fidesz-KDNP parliamentary majority elected him for a 9-year term under the new rules. In 2011 Polt was elected Chairman of an organisation of European Union chief prosecutors. Polt told MTI over the phone that the organisation would provide recommendations to European prosecution offices about what priorities to pursue. He said another aim of the lobby group, set up four years ago, was to debate European issues affecting prosecutors.