BRUSSELS — The European Parliament on Tuesday dealt a blow to longtime bête noire Viktor Orbán.

Hungary’s populist-nationalist prime minister — who has frequently clashed with the EU on LGBTQ+ rights, Russian sanctions and Ukraine’s EU accession — suffered a series of defeats in the Legal Affairs Committee, which ruled that MEPs representing opposition movements in Hungary should be shielded from prosecution in Budapest.

With national elections less than a year away, Hungarian prosecutors have moved against several government critics: Opposition leader Péter Magyar faces charges linked to a nightclub scuffle, left-wing Democratic Coalition leader Klára Dobrev is being prosecuted for defamation and Italian activist-turned-MEP Ilaria Salis faces renewed detention after being freed from jail in Budapest after her election last year.

But all three, who also serve as European lawmakers in Brussels, had their legal immunities protected in Tuesday’s high-stakes vote of JURI Committee members.

Center-right, social democrat, green, liberal and left-wing MEPs voted against lifting the lawmakers’ immunities because the alleged offenses happened while they were already MEPs or, in Salis’ case, under the argument she would not have gotten a fair trial in Hungary, thanks to the grip Orbán’s illiberal Fidesz holds over the country and its institutions.

Magyar, flying high in the polls and threatening to end Orbán’s’s 15-year rule, represents a particular problem for Fidesz — and the governing party’s Brussels supremo lashed out at the committee’s decision to protect his immunity.

“Brussels just sent an outrageous and chilling message: if you are their man, you can get away with anything,” head of the Fidesz-KDNP delegation, MEP Tamás Deutsch, fumed to POLITICO.

“The EPP-Green-left-liberal establishment shielded Péter Magyar despite clear evidence of criminal behavior … By bending immunity rules, the European Parliament is protecting one of its own instead of upholding the law. This is not about justice, it is a brazen political intervention against Hungary’s sovereignty,” he added.

Deutsch’s fiery remarks are part of a long-running saga pitting Fidesz against what it sees as the Brussels deep state elite.

Orbán paints Brussels as waging a political vendetta against his government, a narrative he has leaned on as the Commission withholds billions in funds over rule-of-law concerns and as EU countries weigh the unprecedented step of suspending Hungary’s voting rights.

Fidesz opponents have scoffed at the domestic charges and point to dirty tricks faced by government critics, as polls show that Magyar has a real opportunity dethrone Orbán in Hungary’s election, which is expected to be held in April next year.

“The accusations and cases are obviously fabricated,” said Marton Hadju, head of Cabinet for Magyar’s Tisza delegation in the European Parliament.

With Tuesday’s vote, the “European Parliament is absolutely clear about his regime, that there is no judicial independence in Hungary, that you cannot have an objective independent prosecution,” Dobrev told POLITICO, adding she is repeatedly “threatened” by Orbán.

“This is the reality for us opposition leaders now … this is the reality today and everyone fighting the Orbán regime has to face,” she said.

Elena Giordano contributed to this report.