In light of the European Court of Justice’s ruling in April – when the law that was the basis for the pride ban was found to violate EU law – Hungarian prosecutors announced on Thursday that the charges against Gergely Karácsony are being dropped.
National conservative Orbán, who lost to Péter Magyar in the April election, cracked down hard on LGBTQ rights during his time in power – including by banning last year’s pride parade.
But the parade went ahead anyway, partly organized by Budapest’s liberal mayor, Karácsony. More than 200,000 people are said to have participated. In January, it was announced that Karácsony would be indicted.
This year’s pride festival in Budapest will not be banned, police announced at the end of May.
