Budapest Complex | On foot from Jena to Berlin: 300 kilometers for Maja T.

A glance at the weather app: 34 degrees in the shade. It's midday on the hottest day of the year so far. Nevertheless, the display on Wolfram Jarosch's GPS watch has already exceeded the 40-kilometer mark. The leg from Bitterfeld to Wittenberg is one of the longest on his walk from Jena to Berlin: over 300 kilometers in just over a week. The 54-year-old isn't looking for a sporting challenge. Jarosch is the father of Maja T., a non-binary person who has been in prison in Hungary for a year now – and has been on hunger strike for a month to protest the prison conditions. Jarosch is campaigning for his 24-year-old child to be put on trial in Germany. "The journey to Berlin is a desperate cry for help to the Foreign Minister and Chancellor to do what is their moral duty ," says Jarosch.

I meet him and his wife Tanja in the shade of a tree in front of the only supermarket in a suburb of Wittenberg. The two are lying barefoot on tattered sleeping mats, resting before tackling the final kilometers to their destination. Tanja Jarosch accompanies her husband on her bike, carrying the luggage. A large Bluetooth speaker is attached to the handlebars for the rallies at the stopovers.

It continues: In the sun you feel like you have to push yourself through thick air masses. When the temperatures rise, Wolfram Jarosch's first thought is of Maja. The day before, his child was transferred to a prison hospital . The car journey from Budapest to western Hungary took three hours. The heat must be an additional strain on her already weakened body, says Jarosch. Maja has already lost over twelve kilograms, and her blood pressure and pulse have dropped significantly. Despite this, Maja is "stable considering the circumstances." However, the connection during yesterday's phone call was poor, and communication in the hospital is also difficult; there is no translation.

On hunger strike for a month

But Jarosch emphasizes that it's not just the hunger strike that's taking its toll on Maja. The imprisonment itself is also damaging her health. Maja spent most of her time in solitary confinement. According to the United Nations, even long-term solitary confinement of more than 15 days is considered inhumane treatment. "In Dresden, Maja baked cakes for fellow inmates or played chess with them," Jarosch recalls her pre-trial detention in Germany. In Hungary, the cell was also infested with bedbugs and cockroaches. Daylight only comes through a small hatch, which is why Maja complains of sore eyes. A constant ringing in her ears is also bothering Maja.

Compared to that, the exertions Wolfram Jarosch endures are minor. He suffers from two blisters on his feet. His uneven gait immediately after the break is a testament to his pain. But Jarosch has now regained his brisk stride, having covered almost 150 kilometers in four days. The biology and chemistry teacher has experience with such long distances. He wears a shirt that reads "100 KM Long-Distance Hike 2014" and recounts a 100-kilometer run in Thuringia, which he completed in 10 hours and 17 minutes. He finished third in his age group.

Contrary to the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court

To protect himself from the biting rays of the sun, Jarosch wears a light, wide-brimmed hat. He skillfully applies sunscreen to his legs as he runs. There's no shade until the finish: the path leads along a federal highway, with the railway line next to it. The large bridge over the Elbe River is already in sight, as is the tower of the famous Castle Church in Lutherstadt Wittenberg.

"It is a cry for help to the Chancellor and Foreign Minister."

Wolfram Jarosch father of Maja T.

Jarosch remembers the day that also changed his life. December 2023. The ringing of his doorbell startles him. Police. House search. "An officer casually told me that my child had been arrested," he says. Maja T. is alleged to have been involved in attacks on right-wing extremists in Budapest in February of that year. I want to know: What do these accusations do to him as a father? Jarosch points to the presumption of innocence and the fact that so far, none of the witnesses have been able to identify Maja T., not even in the video footage shown in the trial.

The next shock came six months later, when Maja was extradited to Hungary without warning. For Jarosch, this was a scandalous event, as the Federal Constitutional Court had prohibited precisely this, citing the treatment of queer people in Hungary. But the emergency ruling from Karlsruhe arrived a few minutes too late – Maja T. had already been taken out of the country.

"I'm beginning to suspect that this was a coordinated operation to undermine the rulings of the Federal Constitutional Court," says Jarosch. The extradition took place just hours after the Berlin Higher Regional Court's confirmation, in the middle of the night, with helicopters and hundreds of police officers. Why such haste, if not to circumvent an intervention by the highest court?

Other countries do not extradite to Hungary

Jarosch points to the actions of other countries in dealing with Maja's co-defendants: Both the Italian Foreign Minister and the Justice Minister are said to have telephoned their Hungarian counterparts. Even Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is said to have picked up the phone to arrange for the transfer of Italian activist Ilaria Salis to house arrest – successfully.

Jarosch also hopes for such a decisive approach from Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU). He hopes for an appointment at the Foreign Office as soon as he arrives in Berlin. He has brought with him a petition addressed to Wadephul and Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD), which now has over 100,000 signatures , demanding that Maja T. be brought back to Germany. It remains unclear whether a meeting will take place next week. A request from the "nd" newspaper to the Foreign Office remained unanswered by press time.

So far, the Foreign Office has only assured that it is "intensively investigating" the matter. And at least: As for the other defendants from Germany, it currently looks as if they will not be extradited to Hungary. Maja would then have simply been unlucky to be arrested before them, says Jarosch: "If right consists in simply being unlucky, then that is not my right."

Another glance at the weather app: The temperature is now over 38 degrees Celsius. Only the bridge over the expansive Elbe meadows and the Elbe River stand between the Jaroschs and their destination. They reach Wittenberg in the early afternoon. Berlin is still 143 kilometers away.