The hasty extradition of a left-wing German activist to Hungary was unlawful, Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled in a decision released on Thursday, citing harsh jail conditions in Hungary among other reasons.
The ruling, however, comes too late to help the complainant in the case, who was handed over by German authorities to Hungary in June 2024. An initial injunction from the appeals court at the time that sought to halt the extradition came barely an hour too late.
The person in question is a suspect in a series of brutal attacks on neo-Nazis and other alleged far-right extremists in Budapest in February 2023.
The case concerns a person born in Jena who identifies as non-binary and is known in the left-wing scene as “Maja.” The person’s lawyer has criticizes jail condition in Hungary, where “Maja” is being held in solitary confinement.
The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that the extradition violated “Maja’s” fundamental rights.
“Maja’s” attorney called the decision “a great success” in purely legal terms, but said it will do nothing to help his client, who remains in an isolation cell. He expressed hoped that the Hungarian authorities will now at least grant relief from detention.
A trial is due to begin on February 21 in Budapest. The lawyer said that Hungarian prosecutors had offered a 14-year prison sentence in exchange for an immediate guilty plea, and warned that a trial to could drag on for years.
If convicted, “Maja” could face up to 24 years in prison, a much harsher sentence than is possible in Germany. Hungary has already promised that “Maja” would be transferred back to Germany to serve any prison sentence in their home country.
