A 49-year-old Italian-Hungarian woman, Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, has become the focal point of controversy following a coordinated pager attack in lebanon that killed at least 12 people and injured thousands, targeting Hezbollah members. As the listed CEO of Budapest-based BAC Consulting, Barsony-Arcidiacono's company has been implicated due to its association with the explosive devices. A Taiwanese firm, gold Apollo, claimed it authorized BAC Consulting to use its name on the pagers that detonated.
In the wake of the attacks, Barsony-Arcidiacono has reportedly received unspecified threats and has been advised by Hungarian secret services to refrain from speaking to the media. Her mother stated that Barsony-Arcidiacono was "not involved in any way" in the plot and described her simply as a broker, emphasizing that the items never passed through Hungary.
Background of Barsony-Arcidiacono
Originally from Sicily, Barsony-Arcidiacono grew up in a modest household in Santa Venerina. She earned a PhD in particle physics from university College london in the early 2000s, focusing on positrons, a type of subatomic particle. Despite her academic prowess, she has not pursued a scientific career since then, as noted by her former professor, Akos Torok.
Her educational background also includes postgraduate degrees in politics and development from institutions like the london school of economics and the school of Oriental and African Studies. Barsony-Arcidiacono has worked on various NGO projects across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2019, she was hired by Kilian Kleinschmidt, a former UN humanitarian administrator, to manage a program in tunisia for Libyan training, but her contract was cut short due to management disagreements.
Personal Life and Public Presence
Barsony-Arcidiacono's personal life reflects a creative side; she owns an apartment in Budapest decorated with her own pastel drawings. She was involved in an art club, although she hasn't attended in recent years. Neighbors describe her as kind and communicative, but since the attacks, she has not been seen in public.
The Hungarian government has labeled BAC Consulting as a "trading-intermediary company" without manufacturing capabilities in Hungary, insisting that the pagers never entered the country. Despite this, Barsony-Arcidiacono's exact role in the ongoing controversy remains ambiguous, and she has not made any public statements since the incidents.