Hungarian prosecutors have indicted Budapest Mayor Gergely Karatissony for his role in organizing the city’s 30th annual LGBTQ+ Pride event despite a controversial ban, the mayor’s office announced on Wednesday.
“The prosecutor’s office is trying to file charges and impose financial penalties on me without a court hearing simply because I organized the largest freedom march in decades,” Karaçony said in a statement.
“The fact that hundreds of thousands of people came, and the fact that you came, made the day an unforgettable miracle,” he added.
Last year, Hungarian parliamentarians passed a law banning Pride events in the country and allowing authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify event participants, sparking outrage from rights groups and some politicians.
Activists at the time branded the law illegal and said it was part of a broader crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community. The Budapest Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to CNN on Wednesday that it had indicted Karaçony for his role in organizing and leading the Pride event.
Despite the law, large numbers of people gathered in the Hungarian capital on June 28, 2025 to celebrate the festival.
Demonstrators held placards that read “Solidarity with Budapest Pride” and waved placards with an illustration of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s cross. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s party has been enacting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation for several years, often under the guise of “child protection.”
In 2020, the country effectively banned same-sex adoptions, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s office saying at the time that the move strengthened “the protection of Hungarian families and the safety of children.”
A year later, the country banned the distribution of content related to homosexuality and gender reassignment to under-18s, a move the European Commission said violated “a number of EU regulations.”
When the Pride ban was passed last March, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomed the law, writing on X: “We will not allow woke ideology to put our children at risk.”
Following Wednesday’s announcement, Vla Ceci, co-chair of the European Green Party, defended Karaszon, saying he “did exactly what a democratic leader should do: protect the rights, dignity and security of his people.”
Budapest Pride spokesperson Jojo Majersik said Pride organizers were defiant and were already planning the next march for June 27, 2026. “We continue to firmly support the fundamental freedoms that everyone is entitled to,” Majersik told CNN.
Meanwhile, Carazón also vowed on Wednesday to continue “fighting” for freedom of expression.
“Despite all the threats and all the punishments, I will fight, because when people who want to live, love and be happy are simply betrayed by their country, betrayed by their government, it is their duty to resist,” he said.
CNN’s Sophie Tanno and Katherine Nichols contributed reporting.
