Maja’s extradition to Hungary – BASC statement
Yesterday afternoon, on 27.06.2024, the Berlin Court of Appeal ruled that our comrade Maja should be extradited to Hungary. Without the lawyer or Maja’s family being informed, Maja was taken out of the cell within a very short time after this decision on 28.06. at around 04:00 a.m. in a night and fog operation and brought to Austria, where she was handed over to the Austrian authorities for the purpose of further transport to Hungary. In doing so, the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Saxony State Criminal Police Office and in particular the Soko LinX deliberately pursued the goal of circumventing Maja’s right to a constitutional complaint and thus the chance of preventing extradition. It was also intended to torpedo rapid reactions in solidarity.
On the morning of June 28 at 10:50 a.m., the Federal Constitutional Court issued a temporary injunction in response to an urgent application by Maja’s lawyers that the extradition must be stopped until the constitutional complaint to be filed by Maja’s lawyers has been examined. Maja was probably handed over to the Hungarian authorities at 10:00 a.m. So the order came about an hour too late and the Soko LinX had achieved its goal: to circumvent the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court and to create facts by kidnapping Maja.
All authorities (JVA Dresden, LKA Saxony, Berlin General Prosecutor’s Office) refused to provide the family with any information regarding Maja’s current whereabouts. Instead, they had to read in the press that Maja had already been brought to the Austrian-Hungarian border several hours ago.
As a non-binary person, Maja expects the unimaginable in the prison system of a queer-hostile country. The German authorities are well aware of this, but this does not stop them from behaving in accordance with the persecution zeal of authoritarian Hungary and their own.
The German security authorities like to boast about their supposed rule of law, but when it suits them, they bypass their own constitutional façade and the decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court to extradite anti-fascists to Hungary. Maja is now being exposed to conditions in Hungary that we can only guess at to a large extent. There is no presumption of innocence there, nor is there a trial based on the rule of law. There is a risk of up to 24 years in prison, which would be unthinkable in Germany in view of the accusations. It seems as if this was exactly the goal of the Soko LinX, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office.
It has been clear not only since yesterday that both the Hungarian prisons and the legal system do not meet any European standards. Hungary was already denied democratic status by the EU Parliament in 2022. Nevertheless, the extradition is simply implemented before it can be examined more closely by German courts. German authorities are responsible for the fact that Maja is now threatened with violence, isolation and a political show trial.
We are afraid for Maja in these circumstances and are stunned by the audacity with which legal standards have been undermined here. We are angry at how the authorities have trampled on Maja’s human rights and taken Maja to an unknown location and isolated her from the lawyers and family. We are angry at how contemptuously the authorities treat Maja’s family and deny them any information.
The information about Maja’s situation comes piecemeal and changes quickly. We therefore call on everyone to use the next few hours to continue to prevent Maja’s extradition and to show solidarity. Keep up to date and think about how you can react to the events.
Free Maja – Free all antifas