Budapest’s liberal mayor Gergely Karácsony has said that police have recommended charges against him for violating government orders and allowing a Pride march in June, Politico reports.
In a video posted to Facebook on the 11th of December, Karácsony said that police have concluded an investigation into allowing a Pride march in Budapest in June with a recommendation to file charges. He said he is being charged with violating the new law on the freedom of assembly, which he called complete nonsense.
Pride marches, which have their roots in protest and celebration, are held around the world to draw attention to the rights of people of different orientations and freedom of expression. The Hungarian government passed a law in March that restricts freedom of assembly in cases where it involves public, visible depictions of “divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality” to children. The Budapest Pride march was canceled based on the changes in the law. Meanwhile, political opponents have suggested that
the government banned the march in order to create an issue that would allow it to remain in power.
Hungary is due to hold parliamentary elections in April 2026, and the latest opinion polls show that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling party, Fidesz, will win 40% of the vote, while its closest rival, Tisza, will win 47%.
Karácsony, a member of the Green Party, is a staunch opponent of the nationalist Orbán. He decided to defy the government’s decision in June and allowed the pride march to take place in the capital. Despite Orbán warning the event organizers and attendees of the legal consequences, several European Union politicians also attended the event, showing solidarity.
The Budapest mayor was questioned by police in August, and on the 11th of December, Karácsony announced that he had received an official notification of the case. He said that in a system where the law protects power, not people, and in a system that paralyzes free communities, it was clear that criminal charges would be brought against him sooner or later as mayor of a free city. “I am proud that I took every political risk for the sake of my city’s freedom, and I stand proudly before the court to defend my own freedom and that of my city,” Karácsony added.
The European Green Party has come out in support of the Budapest mayor. It said in a press release that the police’s request to indict Karacsony for supporting Pride is a shocking abuse of power by the Orbán regime.
Read also: Orbán accuses EU of organizing “repulsive” Pride march