Teacher in Hungary facing criminal charges for organising Pride event
A rights campaigner in Hungary has been placed under investigation and is facing potential criminal charges after organising a peaceful Pride march, in a case that campaigners have described as “unprecedented and dangerous” for the EU. In early October, thousands flocked to the southern city of Pécs to take part in Pride. It was the fifth year that the march was held – the only other annual Pride gathering in the country besides that of Budapest – and was becoming a showcase of the city’s commitment to freedom, diversity and the coexistence of minorities. This year, however, politics loomed large. In March the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and his rightwing populist party had voted to ban Pride events and allow the authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify and potentially fine those in attendance, a move Amnesty International described as a “full-frontal attack” on LGBTQ+ people. Even so, in June tens of thousands of people defied the ban to march in Budapest after Pride was rebranded as a municipal cultural event. Months later, Pécs Pride also attracted record numbers, with as many as 8,000 people, including several members of the European parliament, taking part despite the police and the country’s highest court confirming that the event was banned. For the organiser Géza Buzás-Hábel the nightmare began soon after. “We decided to hold Pécs Pride, despite the ban, because Hungary must remain a European country,” the Romani LGBTQ+ activist said. “Freedom of assembly is a fundamental human right, and we cannot allow political decisions to limit our community’s visibility or self-expression.” Organised by the Diverse Youth Network, a group co-founded and led by Buzás-Hábel, the march had taken on wider meaning in recent years as the Hungarian authorities took aim at LGBTQ+ people through a series of discriminatory measures. “If we don’t stand up for ourselves here, then where?,” he said. “Pride is not just a march – it is a message: queer people exist even when others try to silence or ban us.” Days after the march, he was summoned by police for questioning. Soon after, his case was forwarded to the prosecutor’s office with a recommendation to press charges including organising and calling for participation in a prohibited assembly, he said. Prosecutors are deciding on the next steps; Buzás-Hábel said he could be facing a suspended prison sentence of up to three years. The consequences have already wreaked havoc on his life. In recent weeks, he was dismissed from his state job as a teacher after almost a decade teaching Romani language and Roma culture. He was also dismissed from the music centre where he had worked as a mentor for five years. “That experience broke me far more than the current criminal proceedings: losing my community, my students, and my colleagues was an enormous pain,” he said. “I never imagined, even in my worst nightmares, that such violations of rights could happen in a country that has been an EU member state since 2004.” If charges are formally brought, he would be permanently barred from returning to teaching, he said. Campaigners in Hungary and beyond have sounded the alarm about the case. “This is the first known case in the European Union where a human rights defender faces criminal prosecution for organising a Pride march – a step until now only seen in Russia or Turkey,” four Hungarian human rights organisations noted in a joint statement in October. The case is a “dangerous shift” in Hungary’s long campaign against LGBTQ+ people and civil society, they said, as well as a “test for Europe”. They called on the European Commission to take action. “If a teacher in an EU member state can face prison for organising a Pride march, it is not only Hungarian democracy that is at stake, but the credibility of the European Union itself,” the statement noted. “A gay Roma teacher in southern Hungary should not have to risk going to prison to remind the EU what its values mean.” The sentiment was echoed by the European Roma Rights Centre. “Hungary’s case is unprecedented and dangerous,” it said. “No one should be criminalised for organising a peaceful Pride march. Not in Hungary. Not anywhere in Europe.” Others described the case as a glimpse of the vulnerability of activists and organisations in Hungary, with Buzás-Hábel’s persecution seen as a bid to scare off Hungarians from exercising their right to peaceful assembly and from standing up for the values that matter to them. The European Pride Organisers Association called on Hungary to drop the case. “Our message is simple: Pride is peaceful, legitimate, and protected,” it said in a statement. “Criminalising organisers is unacceptable.” Buzás-Hábel said it was part of a much wider process playing out across Hungary. “This is not really about me. In the eyes of those in power, I am just a speck of dust,” he said. “This is directed at my broader community, and the goal is to intimidate the people around me. They are using me as a tool to set an example for the entire country.” He spoke to the Guardian before a trip to Brussels, where, as a board member for Europe’s largest Roma youth network, he was set to take part in a ceremony recognising Roma youth-led projects. The visit would also afford him the chance to meet with EU decision-makers and politicians interested in his case and the situation in Hungary, he said. “The real question is whether the European Union is ready to stand up for the principles it claims to represent,” he said. “If, in an EU member state, someone can face criminal prosecution simply for organising a peaceful Pride march – and the EU does not respond firmly – it sends the message that European values only matter until defending them requires real political courage.” Despite the uncertainty that now plagued his life and career, he said he had no regrets. “I have already experienced the personal cost of this system: I lost all my jobs, I was placed under secret service surveillance, and I now face potential criminal charges,” he said. “But none of this changes the fact that I would organise Pride again in exactly the same way – and I will do so next year as well,” he added. “For me, it is not just an event, but a stand for all those who need visibility and courage in such a hostile environment. Freedom sometimes comes at a high price, but the only thing I would truly regret is failing to stand up for my community.”
