Antifascist prisoner Maja T., who is currently being held in isolation in Budapest on the basis of charges involving violence against Nazis (something that should be regarded as a public service, not a crime), has written a letter to supporters on the outside. The following is a rough translation:
Dear Friends, Comrades, Family, and Supporters,
I have decided to write to you and to everyone who is interested in hearing from me. Today is December 30, 2024. I thought that, after half a year, I would have had a habeas corpus hearing by now. That would have meant that the prosecution, my lawyer, and I would have met before a Hungarian court to argue whether it is (still) necessary for me to be held in pretrial custody. It has been almost 13 months since I was arrested in Berlin, and just a few days after my first “anniversary” in prison, the Hungarian prosecutor’s office submitted my indictment to the court without seeing any need to let me know. The indictment describes the charges, introduces “evidence”, and roughly outlines a specific image of me and my co-defendants as a group of brutal thugs, driven by hatred, who would randomly pursue people through the streets. That is why the prosecution alleges that I am a danger to society and has decided to pursue the maximum sentence for me of 14 years without the possibility of parole. As a precondition, I would have to plead guilty on all counts. Additionally, the prosecution demands that I continue to be held in pretrial detention at least until the first verdict. For that, the court has a comfortable three-year window and is by no means obligated to hurry. The indictment was sent to my lawyer a few days ago, together with the court’s decision, made in our absence, to keep me in prison for an indeterminate time. That means no actual habeas corpus hearing, and we are left only with the possibility of filing a written protest with the next court.
Sitting here, I can only shake my head, gaze dumbfounded, laugh, and get angry, while the feeling of powerlessness and trepidation starts to tear away at the ground under my feet. It isn’t so much the absurd, reality-distorting charges that the prosecution has concocted or their destructive demands. It’s much more the way they claim the right to steal time from my life. Absurdly, I’m comforted by the thought that it was to be expected, that Hungary hides behind grand language like “rule of law”, but that’s just a label – one of many. Not many people have rights here, or at least not everyone has the same ones. The state has the authority and the law has to serve its actors more than it does “justice”. This completely “legal” move by the prosecution tells me that they did not want to risk letting a judge hear a word from me. There was too much of a risk that my solitary confinement, which is beneath human dignity by design, could have come to an end.
Since I am forbidden to speak before the court at the moment, I’ve decided to do it here, a step that is long overdue. I’d like to apologize for the fact that this seems to be so extremely rare. So many people have felt the need over the past two years to courageously raise their voices, speak out, write, plan, organize, demonstrate, donate, and warm shaking hands by holding each other’s. In the past few years, your solidarity has reached me in so many different ways and given me strength, courage, and confidence. Again, it seems to me that I have far too rarely put the gratitude I feel for that into words. Thanks to you, utopias still come in bright colors, held in tender hands with unbreaking will. I want to let you know that every word, every thought, every political struggle that I hear about and that has the courage not to be silent continually rears up anew, rather than fizzling out in the sea of abundance.
You and your comrades have my solidarity. My thoughts remain with you and with all the political prisoners around the world who are working for an emancipatory society. I am also thinking of your pain, the rage over states and their violence, as well as the hope of living in a society that dares to transform itself for the better, that turns away from war, violence, oppression, and exploitation. I respect each individual person who dares to defend themselves against patriarchy, authoritarian cravings, and pretenses of ethnic communities and unfettered enrichment, be it on a large or small scale.
Even if Hungary continues to hold me captive, to prejudge, punish, and frighten me out of sheer will while the German government timidly nods and shakes Orban’s hand, even if the isolation wears down my mind, the lack of sunlight leaves me pale, and the yearning for a conversation with someone I trust and a single embrace should pull me out of sleep at night, I will still be there, I will remain at your side. Let’s dare to not be quiet again and again, even if the months and years sometimes threaten to destroy all hope and confidence in our own strength. We cannot despair; that would be fatal. There is too much at stake. So much is already backsliding that was once fought for and learned. If my brief words have given you courage, maybe with an intimate smile, a strengthening, careful look that you give someone, then all that remains for me is to thank you for reading and listening. A presto mi faro vivo!
With thoughts of solidarity, Maja
Original: https://www.basc.news/ein-versuch-zu-sprechen-maja-zur-anklageschrift/
