Hungary Drops Legal Charges Against Pride March Organizers Following EU Court Ruling]

Hungarian prosecutors announced Thursday they have dropped criminal charges against organizers of last year’s Pride marches, citing a ruling from the European Court of Justice that found the country’s 2021 anti-LGBTQ legislation to be illegal.

The charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, who was accused in January of organizing the city’s Pride parade despite an official ban, have been dismissed. The former nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government had imposed the ban citing the controversial 2021 law targeting LGBTQ rights.

In April, the European Court of Justice ruled that Hungary’s 2021 anti-LGBTQ legislation violated EU law. Prosecutors explained that since the ban was based on a provision later found unlawful, the facts described in the indictment no longer constitute a criminal offense.

Charges against activist Geza Buzas-Habel, who organized Hungary’s only Pride march outside Budapest, have also been dismissed for the same reason.

Police informed AFP that they would allow this year’s Budapest Pride march to proceed on June 27, as they found “no grounds for prohibiting” the event.

More than 200,000 people participated in Budapest Pride last June, with thousands more joining events in the university city of Pecs in October. These large turnouts represented a strong rebuke to Orban’s years-long restrictions on LGBTQ rights.

Karacsony had attempted to co-organize the previous event to circumvent regulations, though prosecutors still sought to fine him.

Hungarian rights groups expressed their approval, stating they were “extremely pleased” that the organizers’ efforts had succeeded. A joint statement signed by organizations including Amnesty International emphasized that the court rulings vindicated the right to assembly as a fundamental freedom.

The groups are calling on the new government to formally repeal the 2021 anti-LGBTQ law and implement broader constitutional reforms to ensure equality.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who defeated Orban in April elections, has expressed support for equality and freedom of assembly but has not specifically endorsed Pride or moved to reverse the restrictive laws passed during Orban’s tenure.

(AFP)

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