Publications

On October 4, 2025, Hungary's only Pride march outside the capital, Pécs Pride, was held for the fifth time. The event was organized by a private individual, Géza Buzás-Hábel, as a gathering subject to the Assembly Act. The police banned the event on September 5, and this decision was upheld by the Kúria (supreme court). Although Pécs Pride took place in a better atmosphere and more peacefully than ever before, criminal proceedings were initiated against the organizer. On October 28, 2025, he was questioned by the police as a suspect.

The annual Pécs Pride will be held on October 4, 2025. Unlike the Budapest Pride in June, which proceeded as a municipality event, Pécs Pride is organized by a private individual as an assembly within the scope of the Assembly Act. The event was banned by the police on September 5, and the Kúria (the supreme court) upheld this decision. If the organizer holds Pécs Pride despite the ban, he will be held criminally liable and may even be punished with imprisonment.

The paper provides an overview on how the Pride-ban as it is often labelled (i.e. Section 13/A of the Assembly Act) together with Article XVI(1) of the Fundamental Law in practice outlawed organizing any LGBTQI-themed assembly in Hungary. It summarizes the decisions of the police and the judgments of the Kúria (supreme court with sole jurisdiction in assembly cases) delivered in connection with the assemblies planned by Amnesty International Hungary, Háttér Society, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union in May and June 2025.