Budapest Complex: When the state declares anti-fascism to be terrorism

On September 8, 2026, the 47th day of proceedings in the Budapest Complex trial against Clara, Emmi, Paula, Luca, Moritz and Nele continued at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. The court has scheduled over 70 appointments and the proceedings are expected to run until at least the beginning of 2027. The Federal Prosecutor's Office accuses the six young anti-fascists, four of whom had just come of age at the time of the crime in February 2023, of membership in a criminal organization according to Section 129 of the Criminal Code - and, as in the previous proceedings, the absurdly exaggerated accusation of attempted murder.

What had happened? In February 2023, neo-Nazis from all over Europe traveled to Budapest for the so-called “Day of Honor,” an annual networking meeting of the extreme right. Anti-fascists protested and there were clashes on the sidelines in which rights were violated. The Hungarian justice system under Orbán responded with a Europe-wide manhunt, and German authorities cooperated willingly: apartments were searched, people were observed and arrested. The non-binary person Maja T. was extradited to Hungary despite an imminent ban by the Federal Constitutional Court and sentenced to eight years in prison there in February 2026 - without any reliable evidence, as even critical observers of the proceedings note.

The pattern has been repeating itself for years, only the numbers are growing: After Lina E. (2023, a good five years in prison in the first major trial in Dresden) and Hanna S. (2025, five years despite the rejected murder charge), Maja T. is the harshest sentence to date in the Budapest complex at eight years. The construction of a "criminal organization" replaces the individual proof of crime - whoever organizes and networks to counter neo-Nazi demonstrations is considered a threat to the Federal Prosecutor's Office even if, as in the Hanna S. case, there is no evidence that the defendant was even in Budapest.

This is not a breakdown of the rule of law, this is how it works in the face of inconvenient politics. While right-wing violent criminals in Germany regularly get away with suspended sentences or dropped cases, anti-fascists have been criminalized for years with terrorism paragraphs, key witnesses of dubious credibility and "superrecognizers" - facial recognition "experts" without any scientific basis. The place of jurisdiction in Düsseldorf, hundreds of kilometers away from the defendant's social circle, is itself part of the attrition strategy, as defense attorney Erkan Zünbül rightly criticizes.

The actual message to the movement is unmistakable: Anyone who consistently stands in the way of right-wing demonstrations no longer only risks being reported, but also years of pre-trial detention and prison sentences. That's exactly why solidarity with the defendants in Düsseldorf is not a side note, but a question that affects the entire anti-fascist movement. Anyone who wants to intimidate the next generation of anti-fascists must fail because of this very process - through publicity, process observation and practical solidarity.

Sources

WOZ: Trials in the Budapest complex: Political harshness at the court

We Are All Antifa: Proceedings (Budapest Complex, Antifa East)

BASC: Overview of trial dates Budapest complex & Antifa East complex

nd-current: Budapest complex: trial begins in the terrorist bunker