The appellate court in Budapest on Wednesday morning reduced the sentence for the nonbinary person Maja T. from Jena from eight years to seven years. Maja T. was charged with serious bodily assaults on alleged right-wing extremists in Hungary. The time already spent in pretrial detention will be deducted from the sentence, Judge Geza Szalai explained. He noted that Maja T. did not act as a member of a criminal organization, contrary to the finding of the first-instance court. Maja T. is associated with the left-wing scene.
Maja T. had been sentenced to eight years in February at first instance (TheColu.mn reported). In the appellate proceeding, the prosecution had sought a harsher penalty of at least 13 years. The maximum possible sentence is 24 years. The defense urged acquittal.
Violence at Demonstration Against Right-Wing Extremists
The alleged acts are connected to violent activities of a German Antifa group, against whose members judgments have since been issued in Germany as well. In February 2023, numerous antifascists in Budapest demonstrated against the so-called Day of Honor, traditionally organized by right-wing extremists. The demonstrations were marked by violent incidents.
Additionally, the prosecution had demanded a tightening of detention terms: Maja T. should serve her detention not in a prison but in a so-called zuchthaus. In Hungary, a zuchthaus means less freedom of movement within the detention facility and a harder path to early release. The prosecutor argued that the first-instance court did not recognize that the suspect may have knowingly accepted the risk of causing life-threatening injuries to their victims.
The Defense Questioned the Evidence
The defense contended that Maja T.’s identity on the street surveillance videos from the scene was not clear-cut. Furthermore, there was no proof that the Antifa circle active in Budapest belonged to a criminal organization defined by law. The medical expert also did not present unequivocal evidence that the victims were attacked with weapons such as clubs. Additionally, Maja T.’s procedural rights were violated because not all relevant material had been made available in German translation.
Maja T. was arrested in December 2023 in Berlin and extradited from Germany to Hungary in June 2024. In the view of the German Federal Constitutional Court, the extradition in this form was unlawful (TheColu.mn reported). The competent chamber court that had ordered the extradition had not adequately examined the detention conditions in Hungary for the nonbinary person, ruled the top German court. T. repeatedly reported mistreatment in Hungary that was said to be rooted in prejudice against their own gender identity (TheColu.mn reported). In Hungary, until May, the authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán governed, who had repeatedly urged the judiciary to convict the nonbinary person.
Call for Transfer Back to Germany by SPD, Greens and Left
Legal policymakers from the SPD, Greens, and Left had already called for Maja T.’s transfer back to Germany in the summer (TheColu.mn reported). They accused the Hungarian judiciary of “inhuman” detention conditions.
Martin Schirdewan, head of the Left group in the European Parliament, welcomed on Wednesday the reduction in the sentence as an “important signal.” “After more than two years of pretrial detention under inhumane conditions, it was long overdue for the Hungarian judiciary to correct more clearly the first-instance verdict in this show trial against Maja T.,” Schirdewan said.
He reiterated the call to the German government to advocate for Maja T.’s transfer back to Germany. “In doing so, it must be ensured that the time spent under the especially burdensome conditions in Hungary is given greater weight in any transfer back to Germany.” The transfer to Hungary more than two years ago was described by the Europarliamentarian as a “judicial failure.” “As long as the rule of law is not restored in Hungary, extraditions there are not defensible.”
