Solidarity with the arrested antifascists
In the context of antifascist mobilizations against the „Day of Honor“ in Hungary, two antifascist comrades from Germany and Italy were arrested. Despite the uncertainty of the facts and the accusations, the German media launched a campaign of prejudgement, garnished, as so often in recent years, by the publication of personal data, such as names and home addresses, of the arrested by neo-Nazi sites and Twitter accounts. The cause of the neo-Nazi event is briefly touched upon in most of the articles, but without shedding light on the actual content and course of events. Attacks on journalists and hunting expeditions of neo-Nazis through the city center remain unmentioned. Meanwhile, the Hungarian and German authorities have jointly taken up the investigation. Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Regional Criminal Police Office (LKA) have already provided international administrative assistance through their own motivation by searching apartments in Germany. The state authorities are using every opportunity to further uncover leftist structures, even if the evidence is so far unclear. In this picture fit also the opening of own procedures and the European searches against further anti-fascists in order to legitimize investigations.
The pre-trial detention for the two detainees was extended on March 14 for another three months until June. The central charge is „crimes against the community“ – whether more will be added is unclear at this time. Our two comrades are facing harsh prison conditions. In addition to poor health and hygiene conditions, the main problems are isolation and lack of communication within the prison and especially with the outside world. Prisons in Hungary are known to be among the harshest in Europe. That prisoners complain about prison conditions in Hungary is nothing new. Cells in Hungarian prisons are known to be overcrowded, dirty and without natural light. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2015 that Hungary should introduce preventive and compensatory measures. The neutrality of the judicial system is also under a cloud – the E.U. has in the past tried to reprimand Hungary for political interventions in the judicial system, such as the appointment of judges. And overall, the political situation in Hungary is more than difficult for progressive people and minorities: the fascization of Hungary is driven by Viktor Orbán, his Fidesz party and the even more radical Mi Hazánk party: Constitutional restructuring, assassinations of Roma, attacks on minority rights, on the free press, on LGBTIQ spaces are just some of the authoritarian conditions.
Neo-Nazis have been gathering in the Hungarian capital around the second week of February for more than a quarter century. The so-called „Day of Honor“ has become one of the largest and most important networking meetings of the neo-Nazi scene in Europe, with several thousand participants from Hungary and abroad. This year too, despite a half-hearted ban by the authorities, hundreds of fascists gathered in the Hungarian capital over the weekend to commemorate the German and Hungarian soldiers killed in the 1945 battle for Budapest and its siege by the Red Army. This year, about 150 antifascists opposed the neo-Nazis. Activists from various anti-fascist groups gathered at the Buda Castle in Budapest on February 11 and protested against the attempt of neo-Nazis to celebrate the „Day of Honor“.
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