Budapest mayor slapped with criminal charges after defying Pride ban

Hungarian prosecutors have filed criminal charges against Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony over his defiant decision to host a Pride march last year.

The 50-year-old liberal politician gained international attention in June 2025 after he refused to abide by a law that bans Pride marches in the country.

The legislation, passed by right-wing populist prime minister Viktor Orbán a month prior, prompted national and intercontinental backlash. It is believed to be the first legislation of its kind approved in an EU country.

Karácsony vowed at the time to revive ‘Budapest Freedom Day’ – a former Hungarian tradition celebrating the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country – and that its theme that year would be ‘Pride’.

On Wednesday (28 January), almost a year after the march took place, prosecutors confirmed they planned to pursue criminal charges against the Hungarian capital’s mayor.

A spokesperson accused Karácsony of having “organised and led a public gathering despite the police ban”, adding in a statement reported by The Guardian that they planned to impose fines on the defendant “without a trial”.

Responding to the accusations, Karácsony said on social media that he had “gone from being a proud suspect to a proud defendant”.

He added: “It seems that this is the price we pay in this country when we stand up for our own freedom and that of others.”

Hungary’s Pride ban a ‘test’ of democracy, activists argue

A member of the Dialogue For Hungary Party – the country’s Green Party – Karácsony has routinely defied the Orbán administration’s efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights.

Ahead of the Pride event, he ordered that LGBTQ+ Pride and Ukrainian flags be flown on the city’s administrative buildings, saying that the government’s attacks on the community were “selfish, petty, and despicable”.

He was questioned by police in August over accusations that he helped to organise the Budapest Pride event, which saw a turnout of over 200,000 people.

In a statement on Wednesday, the European Green Party’s co-chair, Vula Tsetsi, said the mayor’s actions were “not just about Pride”, but about “a test of whether the EU will stand for democracy”.

The criminal charges against Karácsony come as Orbán prepares for Hungary’s parliamentary elections in April.

The 62-year-old prime minister has become increasingly unpopular among voters over accusations that he has weakened democratic freedoms in Hungary by undermining human rights laws, restricting freedom of the press, and distancing the nation’s ties with the European Union.

According to polling data reported by Politico, Orbán’s Fidesz Party is significantly less popular than the rival Tisza Party, whose approval rating is over 10 per cent higher at the time of reporting.

Fidesz saw a sharp decline in popularity between March and April last year – around the time that Orbán would have signed the government’s Pride ban into law.

Tens of thousands of Hungarians across the nation joined together to protest the law’s passage at the time, with near-daily protests taking place across June and April.