Verdict against Maja T.: Germany is complicit

A On December 12th, Thomas DiNanno, a US Undersecretary of State, stopped in Budapest a speech about counterterrorism. In it he warns of the “left-wing extremist terrorism” of “Antifa” in Europe. He explicitly refers to the suspected German group “Antifa Ost”, calls Antifas “fascists”, announces a bounty of 10 million US dollars – and praises Hungary’s pioneering European role in “wiping out these terrorist cells in our countries”. These words from the Trump envoy must have made Hungary’s right-wing authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán happy.

Now, less than two months later, the barely independent Hungarian judiciary has delivered. On Wednesday afternoon, Maja T., an anti-fascist from Jena, was sentenced to eight years in prison. The accusation: T. is part of “Antifa Ost” been involved in attacks on neo-Nazis in Budapest in February 2023. It was a harsh sentence, even if it wasn’t quite as bad as the public prosecutor’s demand at 24 years old might have led one to expect. And yet: In Germany, Hanna S., who was also charged as part of the so-called Budapest complex, received three years less imprisonment.

There will now be a lot of talk about the lack of the rule of law in Hungary, about the political influence of the Orbán regime and the thin evidence that T. was actually involved in the attacks. The view of Hungary is also correct. But German complicity must not be forgotten. Because Germany is not the bastion of the rule of law that stands uninvolved on the sidelines. German authorities made it possible for this trial to take place in Hungary.

In June 2024, Maja T. brought to Hungary so quickly in an illegal night-and-dagger operationthat the Federal Constitutional Court could no longer intervene. Since then, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) has been doing nothing. In doing so, he lets the advance of the global right continue, to brand militant anti-fascism as “terror.”. Even the right-wing government in Italy has stood up for its citizen, Ilaria Salis, who was accused in the “Budapest complex” and brought her back to Italy. But Germany is cowering to the right-wing regimes in Budapest and Washington. This will probably cost Maja T. several years of her life. It is all the more important that Maja T. is at least now brought to Germany to serve the rest of her imprisonment here. To achieve this, civil society needs to become even louder. Because if the rule of law crumbles for one person, everyone loses.