Charges dropped against Budapest mayor over 2025 Pride march

Hungarian prosecutors have dropped charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony over his role in organising a Pride march last year.

The event took place in June 2025, despite warnings of potential legal repercussions by Hungary's then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose government had passed a law banning public events involving the LGBTQ community.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Hungarian prosecutors cited a landmark ruling from the EU's top court as its reason for dropping the charges.

There was no immediate response from Karacsony.

Budapest's annual pride march went ahead last year in spite of the ban, with organisers of the march saying at the time that a record 200,000 people took part.

Speaking at the march, Karacsony said: "Neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest."

Authorities charged him with organising the event in January.

But in April, the European Court of Justice ruled that Hungary's anti-LGBTQ laws violate EU rules and infringe its values of equality and minority rights.

The laws banned so-called promotion of homosexuality or gender change to under-18s, arguing it violated child protection laws.

Citing that ruling on Thursday, Hungarian prosecutors announced that the charges had been dropped.

"Considering the ruling by the European Court... the prosecutors dropped charges against the Budapest mayor for violating the law on freedom of assembly," they said in a statement.

The ruling came nine days after Hungarians voted to end Orbán's 16-year era of continuous rule. Péter Magyar was later sworn in as the country's new prime minister.