Maja T.: Prison sentence reduced and charge dismissed

Jena/Budapest, September 30, 2026 – The Court of Appeal in Budapest has formally reduced the prison sentence for Maja T., who is associated with the left-wing scene. The sentence was lowered from eight to seven years. In addition, the court delivered a decisive legal reassessment regarding the classification of the alleged offenses.

Legal Clarification: No Criminal Association Proven

The decisive turning point in the appeal proceedings was the court’s fundamental reassessment of organizational structures. Presiding Judge Geza Szalai clarified in the ruling that Maja T. had not acted as a member of an organized criminal association under Hungarian law. With this finding, the Court of Appeal overturned the first-instance judgment from February 2026, which had assumed a structured criminal gang.

The conviction is therefore based primarily on counts of severe bodily harm and complicity relating to clashes surrounding the far-right “Day of Honor” in February 2023. The court ruled that all time previously served in pre-trial detention—both in Germany and Hungary—will be credited in full toward the sentence. The judgment is final and legally binding.

Defense Objections and Prison Conditions

Throughout the trial, defense counsel had advocated for a full acquittal. Defense lawyers highlighted substantial procedural shortcomings, including low-quality surveillance video footage without clear identification, delayed or absent German translations of case files, and strict maximum-security classification. The Hungarian public prosecutor’s office, conversely, had demanded a severe increase in the sentence until the end.

Significant international concern also centered on detention conditions in Hungary: Maja T. identifies as non-binary. Defense attorneys and human rights observers repeatedly raised alarms regarding the heightened risk of discrimination and inadequate protection within Hungarian penitentiaries, particularly given Hungary’s restrictive legal landscape concerning LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Extradition Dispute and the German Constitutional Court

The case of Maja T. sparked intense legal and political friction in Germany during the summer of 2024. Following an arrest in Berlin in December 2023, Saxon judicial authorities extradited T. across the border in an expedited pre-dawn operation in late June 2024.

Almost simultaneously, the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in Karlsruhe issued an emergency temporary injunction to halt the transfer. However, because physical custody had already been handed over to Austrian and Hungarian authorities, the court order arrived too late. The Federal Constitutional Court later determined the authorities’ actions to have been unlawful, condemning a violation of the constitutional right to effective legal protection.

Transfer to Germany: What Happens Next?

With the final judgment from the Budapest Court of Appeal, the formal prerequisites are now in place to negotiate a transfer to Germany to serve the remaining sentence. The legal foundation is governed by the EU Framework Decision on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to judgments in criminal matters.

Coordination between the justice ministries in Berlin and Budapest is expected to commence. If transferred to Germany, German penal execution laws will govern the remaining sentence. Under German law (§ 57 StGB), all prior detention time is fully credited, and eligible convicts may apply for early parole after completing two-thirds of their overall prison term.

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Source:

Haftstrafe von Maja T. reduziert | mdr.de

Transparency note: This article was created automatically, editorially reviewed, and expanded with AI support.

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Read original article in German