"I am being prosecuted because I am an anti-fascist,” says Germany’s Maja T. in a Budapest court

Описание: (21 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

++AUDIO AS INCOMING++

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Budapest, Hungary - 21 February 2025
1. Various of German far-left activist Maja T. is led into the courtroom
2. Wide of audience clapping
3. Mid of Maja T.
4. Wide of a judge
5. Mid of audience
6. SOUNDBITE (Hungarian) Dr. Andrea Jenei, prosecutor:
"She attacked the victims from behind. First, the victims were pepper-sprayed on their faces, then they were hit with telescopic sticks several times with medium force. One of the victims, László Bodrogi, was hit in the face at least four times, while another victim, Orsolya Fábián, was hit in the face at least once.”
7. Wide of the audience
8. Various of Maja T. standing up to talk
9. SOUNDBITE (German) Maja T., German far-left activist:
"It is a state that openly ostracizes people for their gender. I am being prosecuted by a European state because I am an anti-fascist. Despite that, I decided to talk. I'm standing here today because eight months ago I was extradited for an act of breach of law and abducted here from a country whose constitution we promised to respect and protect my dignity.”
10. Various of demonstrators with banners calling for freedom for Maja T. in front of the court
11. Wide of Maja T’s father, Wolfgang Jarosch, talking during the protest
12. SOUNDBITE (German) Wolfgang Jarosch, father of Maja T:
"It is difficult. This trial should actually not even take place. The Federal Constitutional Court, the highest German court, has ruled that Maja's fundamental rights are being restricted here under Article Four of the Charter of European Fundamental Rights. Maja has now been sitting here in solitary confinement under degrading conditions of detention for eight months. The rule of law in Hungary is very, very doubtful. For this reason, the EU alone is withholding 20 billion in funding. And the process here is also completely disproportionate. There could be a penalty of up to 24 years, and no proper trial preparation at all is possible. It's very, very difficult.”
13. Wide of Maja T. and her translator in the courtroom
14. Mid of her supporters
15. Various of Maja T. leaving the room led by prison guards
STORYLINE:
The trial of German far-left activist Maja T. began in Budapest on Friday.

She is accused of being part of a group of anti-fascists that are alleged to have violently attacked people they believed were associated with a far-right commemoration in Hungary in 2023.

According to the Hungarian prosecutors, defendants of the "Antifa” case arrived in Budapest to attack participants of the far-right 'Day of Honor' commemoration in February 2023.

The controversial gathering takes place each year with far-right activists marking the failed attempt by Nazi and allied Hungarian soldiers to break out of Budapest during the Red Army’s siege of the city in 1945.

Between 9 and 11 February of 2023, five attacks were carried out by members of an Antifa organization in Budapest against right-wing groups, injuring a total of nine Hungarian and foreign nationals, six of whom were severely injured.

Maja T. is suspected of involvement in these alleged assaults.

Hungarian prosecutors reportedly offered her a 14-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, but without an agreement, the trial could extend for years.

"She attacked the victims from behind. First, the victims were pepper-sprayed on their faces, then they were hit with telescopic sticks several times with medium force,” said prosecutor Dr. Andrea Jenei during the first day of the trial.








AP video by Balazs Kaufmann



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