Solidarity with left-wing extremists: This is why Göring-Eckardt visits Maja T. in the Hungarian prison in Budapest
The alleged member of the "Hammer Gang" is said to have smashed people's heads from behind in Budapest. Left-wing extremists and the Green Party see Maja T. as a victim.
Katrin Göring-Eckardt will travel to Budapest this Saturday. The Green Party member of the Bundestag will visit a suspected left-wing extremist thug in prison. According to the indictment by Hungarian authorities, Simeon T., a native of Jena (his real name), along with other people, allegedly targeted sympathizers of the right-wing extremist scene in Budapest, seriously injuring at least four of them. He is accused of attempted manslaughter, particularly grievous bodily harm, and membership in a criminal organization. If convicted, he faces up to 24 years in prison.
The 24-year-old is alleged to be a member of the notorious "Hammer Gang," which also hunted real or suspected right-wing extremists in Germany, sometimes seriously injuring them. In February 2023, the gang attacked suspected neo-Nazis in Budapest with hammers and cosh. They were allegedly participating in the annual "March of Honor."
Therefore, the Federal Prosecutor's Office investigated Simeon T. and the others. In December 2023, a special unit stormed the room of a Berlin hotel where Simeon T. was staying. After the Federal Court of Justice executed the arrest warrant, the Federal Republic extradited him to Hungary. The 24-year-old is now in pre-trial detention there, where he will be tried according to the "crime scene principle." Reports say the prison conditions are not as good as those in Germany. The arrested man and his political associates speak of solitary confinement.
Prisons in Germany are said to be more pleasant than in HungarySince Simeon T. has been imprisoned in Hungary, he has wanted to be called Maja. He describes himself as "nonbinary," meaning neither male nor female. In Hungary, nonbinary and transgender people are considered disadvantaged in terms of human rights, which provides an additional argument for bringing T. back to Germany, where conditions are considerably more liberal than in Hungary.
Because Maja T. grew up in Jena, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, a member of parliament for Thuringia, says she feels "a special responsibility." The Berliner Zeitung asked her what she hopes to achieve with her prison visit this weekend and whether she sees a risk that left-wing extremists could exploit the visit. We also wanted to know whether the Green Party politician sees a danger that left-wing extremist acts of violence could be legitimized by such a visit.
The politician doesn't really answer the questions. Violence should never be a means of political conflict, she writes. Those who commit crimes must be held accountable. However, she has serious doubts about the due process. The Green Party politician also criticizes the prison conditions: "Insolation, disproportionate measures, a politically charged justice system."
"The Maja T. case is also about something else," Göring-Eckardt emphasizes. "It's about the core of our European values. A common understanding of human dignity, the rule of law, and fair justice in Europe." She points out that the Federal Constitutional Court has declared Maya T.'s extradition to Hungary unlawful. "In my discussions with the Hungarian and German authorities, I will advocate for Maja T.'s return to Germany and a fair trial."
Rarely does someone accused of grievous bodily harm experience so much solidarity, with extradition to an EU country where the crime took place being “at the core of our European values.”
The alleged attacker also received solidarity from Left Party MEP Martin Schirdewan, who is in Budapest as a trial observer. And Left Party parliamentary group leader Heidi Reichinnek recently described the trial in Hungary as a farce: In Budapest, she said, "on one side, the rule of law and democracy stand, and on the other, arbitrary political justice and authoritarianism."
There is no outrageReichinnek's Bundestag speech can be viewed on X. In the comments below, a Hamburg criminal lawyer raises, among other things, the question of whether the Left Party politician would be so vehement in his defense if Simeon/Maja were a right-winger who, in his/her view, allegedly hit left-wingers on the head with a hammer.
The left-wing extremist scene is also demanding the return of Maja T. Two weeks ago, more than 5,000 Antifa supporters from all over Germany marched through downtown Jena. The demonstrators, some of them masked, set off smoke bombs and threw pyrotechnics at the police. Three officers were injured. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk reported favorably that the police remained calm and the protest passed without incident.
In Berlin, left-wing extremists carried out an arson attack on a car belonging to the Stölting group, which offers services in prisons, among other things, on the night of June 13. According to a letter of claim published online, this was done in "solidarity with Maja and all prisoners."
There was no media outrage over these acts.
Berliner-zeitung
