Hungary: investigation into LGBTQ+ activist, NGOs: “Such cases so far only in Russia or Turkey”

Brussels – Hungarian activist Géza Buzás-Hábel has been investigated and faces up to a year in prison for organising the Gay Pride march in Pécs, southern Hungary. “This is the first known case in the European Union where a human rights defender is criminally prosecuted for organising a Pride march. A case so far only seen in Russia or Turkey,” said four Hungarian human rights organisations in a joint statement.

Hungary’s iron fist 

The Hungarian government had announced an iron-fist approach to Pride protesters this year. The authorities had banned this type of event altogether, allowing the police to use facial recognition software to identify participants and potentially fine them. Despite the repressive laws, Hungarians took to the streets anyway. Budapest had coloured itself with rainbow flags on 29 June, while in Pécs they waited until 4 October before displaying them.

The activist facing conviction

Géza Buzás-Hábel, a gay Roma boy, played a central role in the organisation of Hungary’s only Pride away from the capital, which in October ended without any particular bans. The problems, however, started shortly afterwards. The boy was questioned by the police in the following days. The police took over the case, and it appears that Buzás-Hábel could face a suspended prison sentence of up to three years.

The LGBTQ+ activist is no stranger to targeted attacks by Hungarian authorities. Last year, he was fired from his state job as a teacher after teaching for a decade. Even at the music centre where he had worked, he was fired after five years. The activist reported his difficulties to The Guardian: “I have already experienced the personal cost of this system: I have lost all my jobs, I have been put under surveillance by the secret service, and now I face potential criminal charges.”

The warning to the Commission

A number of organisations, including Amnesty International, are now spreading the story of Buzás-Hábel. In the joint document they have released, a direct appeal is made to the European Commission to stop authoritarianism in Hungary. They wrote in a note: “So far, the Commission has limited its reaction to an ‘assessment’ of the changes. This raises an unavoidable question: how long can the European Commission remain in ‘evaluation’ mode while a teacher risks imprisonment for exercising the rights it claims to want to protect?” 

The frozen 18 billion 

The evaluations to which the associations refer are the recommendations made by the European body in the 2025 Report on the Rule of Law. When these recommendations were formalised in July, the European Commissioner for Justice, Michael McGrath, said: “It is deeply disappointing that we are not able to report any further progress on the recommendations made last year.”

However, it is not entirely true, as the organisations claim, that the Commission is doing nothing. The Union is keeping frozen some €18 billion that would be due to Hungary between cohesion and post-COVID funds. The reason is the one announced by McGrath, namely, the lack of progress in advancing the rule of law and protecting democracy. European pressure is also advancing in the European Parliament, which, in November, voted in Strasbourg on a report on the rule-of-law crisis in Hungary.

The Future of Hungary 

However, recommendations and the freezing of funds have not stopped Viktor Orbán’s executive from persecuting Buzás-Hábel. Indeed, the rise of right-wing-oriented majorities, most recently that of Andrej Babiš in the Czech Republic, among the 27, is not helping advance the case against Hungary.

A breakthrough could come after the April parliamentary elections, where Victor Orban, in an election that could prove very difficult for him, will have to contest his seat with former ally Peter Magyar. In any case, despite promising a more democratic approach, Magyar himself cannot be said to be a supporter of LGBTQ+ minority rights. His electorate comes from the ranks of the conservative right and centre-right, and that is precisely why he did not show up on the streets of Budapest for the June Pride.