Campaign Story

In 2017, I achieved what I believed was a significant milestone—buying my first apartment and a garage in western Hungary to secure my independence. Little did I know that this dream would spiral into a nine-year nightmare of fraud, intimidation, and what I believe to be a deeply compromised judicial system that left me bankrupt, heavily in debt, and battling life-threatening health conditions.

The Deception and the Harassment

It all began when I discovered that the former owner, alongside his unscrupulous lawyer, had deliberately deceived me during the purchase. Shortly after the transaction, they breached our contract, unlawfully reclaimed ownership of the garage, and robbed me of a significant amount of cash. When they sensed my reluctance to comply with their demands to repurchase the garage, their tactics intensified.

The intimidation quickly escalated. I began receiving threats, found photographs of tombstones in my mailbox, had my window smashed with a stone, and was even deliberately forced off the road while riding my bicycle. My home was no longer a sanctuary; I lived in constant fear. They even went as far as investigating my late mother’s estate, trying to cause me further financial harm while I was already collapsing under the strain of their threats.

While trying to regain my peace, I filed reports with the police, believing that the law would protect me. However, I soon encountered what I believe was a corrupt system. The detective warned me that the former owner's relative was a prosecutor and that his lawyer was a friend of the police chief, who allegedly ordered the investigation to be dropped, claiming simply that "no crime had been committed."

Unfortunately, the detective's warning proved to be accurate. When I appealed to the prosecutor's office, I was met with hostility, and my appeals went unanswered. I quickly learned that my fight for justice was stacked against me at every turn. My calls to lawyers were met with rejection—twenty-seven lawyers declined to represent me, citing concerns about going against a fellow lawyer. In a system bent by corruption, I felt completely isolated and vulnerable.

A Captured Legal System

Desperate to find a resolution, I began communicating directly with my adversaries. I hoped they would reconsider, but instead, they ignored every message I sent, making me realize I was completely alone.

In my quest for justice, I was hit with five defamation lawsuits initiated by the very people who had wronged me. While I ultimately won four of them, defending myself drained what little money I had left and took a tremendous toll on my emotional well-being. At the very same time, my mother was slowly dying of Stage IV cancer, adding an unbearable weight of grief and emotional exhaustion to an already devastating situation.

I finally filed my own civil lawsuit, hoping to present my evidence and finally receive justice. As the case proceeded, however, another deeply troubling event occurred. Without my knowledge or consent, the court disclosed my confidential medical records to my enemies. In a later ruling, the Regional Court, acting as an appellate court, officially determined that this constituted unlawful processing of my sensitive health data. Even before my case was heard on its merits, my legal rights had already been violated by the very institution responsible for protecting them.

Instead of stopping there, my enemies turned their attention to my family. They investigated my family's financial circumstances and searched public records relating to my late mother's estate, looking for anything that could be used to strip me of legal aid if I appealed.

For me, the deepest wound was seeing my late mother's memory dragged into a legal battle that should never have involved her. While my family was still mourning her loss, the people who had already caused me immense suffering were searching through her legacy, looking for anything that could be used to cause me even greater financial harm. I experienced this as a profound violation of my family's privacy and of my mother's dignity.

After everything I had been through, I walked into that courtroom believing that, at last, someone would listen to me. Instead, the case was assigned to a judge who acted with clear bias. During a hearing that lasted barely an hour, I was not allowed to tell my story, present my evidence or even call my witness. Before I truly had a chance to present my case, judgment was entered against me.

Instead of receiving compensation for my devastating financial losses, I was ordered to pay the legal costs of the very people I had sued—amounting to eight thousand euros. It was one of the darkest moments of my life. Financially, it broke me. I had lost not only my case, but also the last hope that justice could still protect me. I truly felt that I was no longer fighting for justice, but simply struggling to survive inside a system that seemed determined to protect the powerful instead of the innocent. From that moment on, the harassment and pressure against me only intensified.

Despite everything, I refused to give up. Eventually, I won one of those cases, and the court ordered the former owner of the property to repay the money he had unlawfully taken from me. To this day, however, he continues to ignore the final court judgment and has not paid back a single cent. Despite the court's ruling, I have been unable to enforce the judgment because, on paper, he appears to own virtually nothing. He has no registered assets, no bank accounts, and no property in his own name. At the same time, his family appears to enjoy a very comfortable lifestyle. Public records show that his wife's construction company generates millions of euros annually, while I struggle simply to survive. Watching someone ignore a final court judgment without consequences while I fight just to afford food and medical care has been one of the most painful parts of this entire ordeal.

The Ultimate Betrayal: They Tried to Send Me to Prison

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, my opponent—the very lawyer who had deceived and robbed me—weaponized the justice system against me in the most terrifying way possible. After failing to defeat me in four previous defamation cases, he changed tactics.

The fifth case marked a terrifying turning point. This time, he brought a defamation case before a district court where he had personal connections, relying on fabricated evidence and malicious false accusations in an attempt to send me—the innocent victim—to prison and silence me permanently.

The corruption was so blatant that even the local police and prosecutor's office resisted, officially writing in their decrees that I had committed absolutely no crime and that the allegations were groundless. Yet, this corrupt court ignored the law and continued to relentlessly prosecute and hunt me, dragging me through what felt like a political show trial. They ignored evidence, violated procedural rules, and treated me like a dangerous criminal—all while protecting the real perpetrator.

I lived for 3 years under the constant shadow of possible arrest and imprisonment. This wasn’t just legal harassment; it was an attempt to completely destroy me, to lock away an innocent victim so that the powerful could escape justice. The fear of waking up one day in handcuffs, of losing my freedom on top of everything else I had already lost, pushed me to the absolute brink.

Broken, But Still Fighting

The years of relentless stress, anxiety, and psychological trauma eventually took a devastating toll on my health. I suffered a moderate stroke that left me partially blind in one eye. Soon after, I was diagnosed with a severe bleeding disorder requiring emergency, life-saving blood transfusions and urgent surgery.

With no income and mounting expenses due to these ongoing lawsuits, I find myself trapped in a dire situation where I cannot afford food, utilities, or even basic necessities. Driven by the need to survive, I am constantly forced to push my broken body through exhausting physical work just to afford basic food, while also trying to repay a €12,000 debt to my 75-year-old retired father. He sacrificed his life's savings to pay for my life-saving medical surgeries and the legal costs imposed on me. Meanwhile, the wealthy thieves continue living lavishly while I face absolute ruin.

I have spent the last year watching the courts play a bureaucratic game of "ping-pong" with my lawsuits, refusing to hear my cases because the defendants are closely connected to them through professional, personal, or family relationships.

The Current Situation

Today, I am at a crossroads. Four more court cases hang over my head, and I cannot afford legal representation. The loans I was forced to take out to continue my legal battle have pushed me deeper into debt, and I am approaching a point of complete hopelessness.

The current situation in Hungary is deeply troubling—corruption has seeped into the very institutions that are supposed to protect ordinary people. Good people are left unprotected, and it has become painfully clear that my cries for help have repeatedly fallen on deaf ears. I realize now more than ever that support from outside this system is my only remaining hope.

How Your Support Will Change My Life

I am seeking to raise €15,000 to secure the help of a fearless, independent human rights lawyer who is not afraid to stand up against this network and provide basic food and medical necessities while I continue fighting for my life and dignity.

Every euro brings me one step closer to justice. Please consider donating, sharing my story, and standing beside a stroke survivor who is fighting not only for herself, but for the basic right to be heard and treated fairly.

To everyone who has taken the time to read my story: Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Erika