168 Óra reports that five professors from the Budapest-based John Wesley Theological College have nominated Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist George Soros for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The five – Rev. Gábor Iványi, education researcher Péter Lukács, theologian Tamás Majsai, sociologist Péter Tibor Nagy, and Mihály Szilágyi-Gál – sent their nomination to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in early November.

The professors nominated Soros for

The “relentless and systematic support [he] offered to the Hungarian, Czech, and Polish opposition in the 1980s,”

His “major contribution to the creation of democracy and to the break-up of the Warsaw Pact,”

Founding the Open Society Foundations, “which have supported the cause of democratic transition around the world,” and

Founding and endowing the Central European University.

The John Wesley Theological College is affiliated with the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship, a Hungarian Methodist church stripped of its state-recognized church status in violation of EU law with the adoption by the Fidesz-controlled parliament of the controversial Church Law of 2011. The church is led by Rev. Gábor Iványi.

In April 2014, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Hungarian government had unduly denied privileges, subsidies and donations to legitimate churches after the Church Law changed the status of religious organizations which had previously enjoyed state recognition. The government lost an appeal a few months later, but has been reluctant to pay restitution and implement corrective legal measures as ordered by the court.

Rev. Gábor Iványi is one of a very few members of the Hungarian clergy openly critical of the government’s actions

Speaking at a press briefing in January, Rev. Iványi responded to the Hungarian government’s crackdown on NGOs, its campaign against Soros, and the general democratic backsliding in Hungary. The following remarks were made at the event: