This week, prosecutors filed criminal charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony for organizing the city’s 2025 Pride march. They are seeking a criminal fine and proposing the case be decided without a trial. The mayor’s prosecution is another example of the erosion of the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hungary.
The charges follow a Budapest police ban on the June 19, 2025 Pride march, which cited Hungary’s amended “child protection” laws and a scheduling conflict with another demonstration. Mayor Karácsony announced that the march would take place as a municipal event, which does not require police approval, and led the peaceful march, with record-breaking attendance, on June 28.
Prosecuting an elected mayor for organizing a peaceful assembly sets a dangerous precedent, signaling that officials and citizens alike may face arbitrary punishment for exercising fundamental freedoms. In the city of Pécs, a teacher and human rights activist also faces potential criminal charges for organizing a local Pride march despite a police ban.
Attacks on the rights of LGBT people in Hungary have intensified. In March 2025, parliament outlawed Pride and authorized facial recognition of organizers and participants, exposing them to fines of up to €500. In April, parliament adopted constitutional amendments that elevated “child protection” above nearly all other rights, granting the government sweeping discretion to curtail freedoms, including of assembly. It also defined gender strictly as biological sex at birth, denying the existence of transgender identities. A 2021 law banning LGBT content for children in, for example, schools and media, prompted the European Union to take Hungary to the EU Court of Justice where a ruling is imminent.
This prosecution also underscores broader rule of law concerns. Since 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has systematically weakened the independence of Hungary’s judiciary, cracked down on independent media and civil society, demonized migrants, and curtailed women’s and girls’ rights. The government repeatedly bypasses parliament, governing by decree.
Hungary’s democratic backsliding and attacks on rights demand urgent action. The charges against Mayor Karácsony should be dropped, and EU institutions should step up the use of conditionality mechanisms and infringement proceedings to hold Hungary accountable. The European Council should also move its rule of law scrutiny of Hungary under the long-stalled Article 7 procedure toward a vote.
Allowing authorities to normalize bans on and punish peaceful assemblies undermines everyone’s rights and the rule of law itself.
