Hungarian state police will question Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony as a suspect in connection with organizing June’s Pride rally, local media reported Thursday.

“I became a suspect, and if that is the price we have to pay in this country for standing up for our own freedom and that of others, then I am proud of it,” Karácsony wrote on Facebook. 

The mayor has been asked to appear for questioning as a suspect sometime next week, the National Police Headquarters told 444.hu media, declining to provide further details. 

The Brussels-baiting government of illiberal Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán passed legislation in March prohibiting public assemblies that “promote or display” the LGBTQ+ community, under the pretext of protecting children, and refused to issue police permits that would allow the June 28 Budapest Pride event to go ahead as planned. 

But Karácsony subsequently found a legal loophole — by organizing the event as ​​a municipal undertaking, he freed organizers from the need to obtain police permission. This year’s Budapest Pride ultimately became the largest-ever event of its kind, drawing an estimated 200,000 people. 

While the police initially promised not to prosecute people who participated in the march, the National Bureau of Investigation reportedly continued to investigate the organizers. 

Karácsony is the first known suspect in the probe. He previously told Hungarian media that he alone bears legal responsibility for organizing the event and that he will be happy to defend himself in court.