Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony remains unyielding after facing criminal charges for his involvement in orchestrating the city’s Pride parade last summer against Hungarian regulations.
Authorities have been probing Karacsony since the event on June 28 proceeded despite a ban on Pride enforced by Hungary’s conservative nationalist government.
“I transitioned from being a proud suspect to a proud defendant,” the mayor conveyed in a statement shared on his Facebook page, as he did not engage with a CBC interview request.
“It appears that this is the cost to be paid in this nation when we advocate for our own liberty and that of others.”
Parade was ‘a remarkable experience’
Despite the prohibition, organizers reported that hundreds of thousands of individuals partook in Budapest’s 2025 Pride parade as a form of protest against Hungary’s anti-2SLGBTQ+ statutes.
Among the attendees was Ciarán Cuffe from Ireland, serving as the co-chair of the European Green Party, of which Karacsony is a member.
“There was an incredible sense of empowerment to march the streets of Budapest alongside 200,000 other people in a city and country where there has been a noticeable crackdown on freedom of expression,” Cuffe shared with As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
“It was an exceptional experience.”
The Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office declared that Karacsony was charged for arranging an unauthorized assembly despite a prohibition order.
In March 2025, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s governing party passed legislation that barred Pride events and authorized the use of facial recognition technology to identify participants.
Orban’s administration contends that Pride infringes upon children’s rights to moral and spiritual development, with a constitutional amendment from the prior year asserting that these rights supersede other fundamental freedoms, including the right to peaceful assembly.
Karacsony attempted to circumvent the ban by registering the Pride march as a municipal event, arguing that it did not necessitate a permit.
However, law enforcement intervened, stating that it fell under child protection regulations.
Prosecutors stated that Karacsony disobeyed the police directive by “publicly issuing repeated calls to partake in the assembly, and subsequently spearheaded the assembly.”
Karacsony did not dispute the prosecution’s account of events.
“That is precisely what unfolded,” he affirmed.
The prosecution recommended that Karacsony should receive a fine without a trial. However, the mayor expressed his desire to go to court.
“I will never agree to, or resign myself to, the notion that it could be deemed a criminal act in my homeland to advocate for freedom,” he reiterated.
“I will never tolerate this, and despite any threats or punishments, I will combat it, as when individuals seeking to live, love, and be happy are simply betrayed by their own country and government, resistance becomes a duty.”