Hungary charges Budapest mayor for allowing banned pride march

Prosecutors question good against Mayor Gergely Karacsony ‘without a trial’.

Hungarian prosecutors person charged Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony implicit his relation successful arranging past year’s cheery pridefulness march successful the superior city, which attracted hundreds of thousands of people contempt a ban.

Prosecutors person “filed charges and question a good against the politician of Budapest, who organised and led a nationalist gathering contempt a constabulary ban”, their bureau said successful a connection announcing the lawsuit connected Wednesday.

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“The territory prosecutor’s bureau projected that the tribunal enforce a good connected the suspect successful a summary judgement without a trial,” the connection added without including the magnitude of the good sought against Karacsony.

Since returning to powerfulness successful 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been tightening his grip implicit the state and has targeted groups advocating for quality rights.

Orban’s blimpish authorities has besides pushed for authorities promoting accepted household values and steadily rolled backmost LGBTQ rights.

In 2025, his Fidesz enactment amended laws and the constitution to prohibition the yearly pridefulness march, drafting protests from critics and the European Union.

‘Proud defendant’

After the prohibition was imposed past year, Budapest City Hall stepped successful to co-organise the yearly lawsuit to effort to sidestep the regulations, but constabulary inactive issued their objections, and Orban warned organisers and attendees of “legal consequences”.

On Wednesday, Karacsony reacted to the charges by saying helium went from a “proud fishy to a arrogant defendant”.

“They don’t adjacent privation a proceedings … due to the fact that they can’t adjacent comprehend that present successful this city, we person stood up for state successful the look of a selfish, petty, and despicable power,” helium said connected Facebook.

In a station connected X, Ciaran Cuffe, cochairman of the EU’s European Greens party, called the charges “outrageous”.

In a abstracted post, the European Greens said the enactment stands with Karacsony, who is simply a subordinate of Dialogue, the Greens’ enactment affiliate successful Hungary.

Despite the prohibition connected the march, it became “the biggest state march successful decades”, proving that “love can’t beryllium banned”, the enactment added.

Facing a twelvemonth successful prison

Karacsony could look up to 1 twelvemonth successful situation for organising and urging information successful a banned rally.

Participants could besides look fines of up to 500 euros (nearly $600) for attending Budapest Pride though constabulary announced successful July they would not instrumentality enactment against the marchers.

Organisers of the June march estimated that up to 200,000 radical took portion successful the 30th yearly Budapest Pride.

The rally began astatine Budapest City Hall and coiled done the metropolis centre earlier crossing the Erzsebet Bridge implicit the Danube River.

The crowds waved rainbow flags and carried signs mocking Orban.

A pistillate lights a cigaret placed successful a placard depicting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban connected March 25, 2025, successful Budapest during a objection aft the Hungarian Parliament passed a instrumentality that banned the yearly pridefulness march [Marton Monus/Reuters]