On this year’s “Day of Honour”, participants in Budapest once again displayed National Socialist symbols without any punishment. The German Federal Police prevented six right-wing extremists from leaving the country.
Across almost all parties, politicians in Italy are appalled by the humiliating treatment of the Milan-based anti-fascist Ilaria Salis by the Hungarian justice system. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni telephoned her counterpart Victor Orbán about the inhumane prison conditions and being brought to court in chains; before the Hungarian ambassador was called in on the matter. Although a German citizen is presumably being held in prison in Budapest under the same conditions, the government in Berlin has not yet taken any initiative in this regard. This was confirmed by the Foreign and Justice Ministries at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin on Monday.
The Federal Foreign Office was aware of the case of Tobias E. from Berlin, who was in custody, the officlas said, and had been offered consular assistance in custody in accordance with customary practice. Employees of the German embassy had also observed the start of the trial at the end of January. However, according to the spokespersons of the two ministries, there was no communication at government level, as in the case of Italy.
The background to the disagreement between Italy and Hungary is the Budapest Antifa trial, in which defendants from Italy and Germany are in court for membership of a “left-wing extremist organisation of young adults”. Some members of this organisation, including Ilaria Salis, are also accused of attacks on actual or suspected participants in the Nazi march on the “Day of Honour” in Budapest a year ago. Nine people were injured, some of them seriously. The Public Prosecutor’s Office portrays some of the victims as “hikers and tourists”, but a report on Indymedia has refuted this claim in several cases.
In connection with the “Day of Honour”, the Budapest police are investigating 14 other activists of different nationalities and have initiated an international manhunt. Gabriele M., who was already arrested in Italy in November, will not be extradited by the public prosecutor’s office there in view of the severe sentence and the inhumane prison conditions to be expected.
In Germany, a person detained in Dresden, named Maja T. by supporters, is threatened with extradition in the same case. The Berlin Court of Appeal must decide on this. It is not known whether the judges have similar concerns about the inhumane detention conditions in Hungary as the Italian judiciary, and in view of the apathy of the German Ministry of Justice, this is not to be expected.
Last week, a man was arrested in Helsinki following an EU arrest warrant from Hungary, who was also wanted for incidents related to the 2023 Day of Honour in Budapest. This was confirmed by the Budapest police to “nd”. Extradition has been requested and is being examined by a Finnish court. An MDR journalist had previously speculated that the man was from Italy.
On Saturday, thousands of participants once again gathered in Budapest for the “Heroes’ Commemoration” and a subsequent hike to the neighbouring Buda Hills. The right-wing mobilisation was even greater this year than in previous years, writes the press spokeswoman for the German Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime – League of Anti-Fascists (VVN-BdA). An original neo-Nazi rally planned for Saturday morning in the city centre was banned, however, and hundreds of them then met under the eyes of the police for an allegedly spontaneous flash mob. As in previous years, national socialist symbols were openly displayed on Saturday. This is also illegal in Hungary, but the police did not intervene.
This year, too, several hundred people protested against Nazi activities in Hungary. A left-wing demonstration in Budapest was closely monitored and filmed by the police. The Hungarian police had already stopped a bus organised by the Austrian Concentration Camp Association, the Austrian Social Democratic Freedom Fighters and the VVN-BdA on arrival. The ID cards of the passengers were checked and all the people were photographed, as were the flags, newspapers, signs and stickers they were carrying. According to the VVN-BdA, one activist was even forced to unlock his phone.
For this year’s “Day of Honour”, the responsible state criminal investigation offices in Germany have forbidden several German neo-Nazis to travel to Budapest. “Six people from the right-wing extremist spectrum” had nevertheless set off, the Federal Police wrote in response to an enquiry from “nd”. The police then took “measures to prevent them from leaving the country”.
Nevertheless, Germans apparently also made it to the “Heroes’ Memorial”. A film crew from “nd” was threatened on the fringes of the march with the words “We’ll get you all, you fucking wankers”.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: A film crew from “nd” was also threatened on the fringes of this year’s Nazi march in Budapest.
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