Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony says Hungarian police have recommended he be charged for defying a government ban and allowing a Pride parade to take place earlier this year in Hungary’s capital.

“The police concluded their investigation against me in connection with the Budapest Pride march in June with a recommendation to press charges,” he said in a video posted on Facebook Thursday. “They accuse me of violating the [new law on] freedom of assembly, which is completely absurd.”

Pride gatherings, rooted in protest and celebration, are held around the world to promote the rights and freedom of expression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.

In March, however, Hungary adopted a law restricting the freedom of assembly in cases involving the public portrayal to children of “divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality.” The Budapest Pride parade was subsequently banned based on the legislation.

But political opponents say the government banned Pride in an attempt to create a wedge issue to stay in power.

Hungary faces parliamentary elections in April 2026, and in the most recent poll, conducted from Nov. 21-28 by 21 Research Centre, a Budapest-based think tank, the country’s ruling Fidesz party was on track for 40 percent support behind the challenger, Tisza, at 47 percent of decided voters.

Karácsony, a Green politician and a strong opponent of nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, rejected the federal government’s edict and allowed the rally to proceed in June. Several EU politicians joined the event to show solidarity with LGBTQ+ people, even though Orbán warned organizers and attendees that legal consequences would follow.

The Budapest mayor was questioned by Hungary’s state police in August, and on Thursday said he’d received a formal notice in the case.

“In a system where the law protects power rather than people, in this system that stifles free communities, it was inevitable that sooner or later, as the mayor of a free city, they would take criminal action against me,” Karácsony said.

He added: “I am proud that I took every political risk for the sake of my city’s freedom, and I stand proudly before the court to defend my own freedom and that of my city.”

The European Green Party backed Karácsony. “The fact that the police are requesting to indict the Green Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony for supporting Budapest Pride 2025 is a shocking misuse of state power by the Orbán regime,” the party’s co-chair, Vula Tsetsi, said in a press release.

Karácsony is one of the ’10 to Watch’ in the POLITICO 28: Class of 2026.

The Rendőrség, Hungary’s national police force, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Csongor Körömi and Max Griera Andreu contributed to this report.