Budapest’s mayor Gergely Karácsony has revealed that he faces charges for helping to organise a banned Pride event in the city.

Despite Hungary’s Pride ban, on 28 June, tens of thousands of people, including the city’s Mayor, Gergely Karácsony, took to the streets of Budapest to defy Viktor Orbán. 

On Thursday (11 December), Karácsony took to Facebook to share a video in which he revealed the government are pressing charges against him. 

He began, as per Politico: “The police concluded their investigation against me in connection with the Budapest Pride march in June with a recommendation to press charges. 

“They accuse me of violating the [new law on] freedom of assembly, which is completely absurd.”

He went on to share that following being questioned by police in August he has now received a formal notice in the case. 

“In a system where the law protects power rather than people, in this system that stifles free communities, it was inevitable that sooner or later, as the mayor of a free city, they would take criminal action against me. 

“I am proud that I took every political risk for the sake of my city’s freedom, and I stand proudly before the court to defend my own freedom and that of my city.”

The right-wing Fidesz party, led by Viktor Orbán who has been the European country’s Prime Minister since 2010, passed an anti-LGBTQ+ law banning Pride marches in Hungary in March 2025 on the grounds that the depiction of homosexuality was a threat to minors.

The ban, which was met by protests from opposition politicians and members of the public alike, proposed fines of up to 200,000 forints (£420/$550) for organisers of Budapest Pride, and anyone attending, claiming the event could be considered harmful to children.

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