exclusive
In February 2023, suspected German left-wing extremists are said to have attacked participants in an SS memorial in Budapest. They have been wanted ever since. Now some people want to follow suit MDRinformation – under certain conditions.
It could be heard clearly from a distance: the sound of metal chains and shackles clinking together as they ran. Bound with handcuffs and ankle cuffs and chained to the guards, Ilaria Salis and Tobias E. were led into the hearing room of the Budapest City Court by masked guards at the end of January. It was the audible and visible expression of the prison conditions, which the Italian Salis described as partly miserable.
It is these impressions that lead several men and women to do so MDR to give an exclusive interview. They are the parents of suspected German left-wing extremists who have gone into hiding. They are wanted in connection with an attack on participants in an SS memorial day in Budapest. Some of the suspected left-wing extremists are apparently willing to report to the police.
“Several of the accused are ready to surrender to the authorities,” said Wolfram Jarosch, a father whose child is accused of taking part in the attack. “But they want to be assured that they will not be extradited to Hungary and that they can stay here in Germany. We as parents know this from the children’s lawyers,” says Jarosch. His child has already been arrested and is currently in the Dresden JVA.
Conditions of detention in Budapest as a trigger for an appeal
The German and Hungarian investigators are looking for a total of nine other Germans because of the incidents in Budapest in February 2023. There are arrest warrants. Together with Ilaria Salis and Tobias E., they are said to have attacked and knocked down supposed visitors to the SS commemoration “Day of Honor”. The right-wing extremist meeting takes place every year in Budapest.
Among those wanted are two men who investigators believe were close to Lina E., who was convicted in Dresden of membership in a left-wing extremist criminal organization. One of them is her fiancé, Johann G. Others, however, are young women and men from Saxony and Thuringia – so far without any verifiable acquaintance with the convicted Leipzig student.
A mother who wishes to remain anonymous says in an interview with MDR on the motives for the public appeal step. “I don’t want to comment on the allegations. That’s not our part as parents to comment on guilt and innocence,” said the woman. “And it’s not the time to talk about it now. What we parents are demanding is a fair and constitutional process here in Germany.” This is the only chance for these young people.
“As parents, we believe that these young people, like all other people, have a right to legal proceedings and, in the event of a conviction, to humane prison conditions and to a perspective afterwards – to resocialization,” emphasizes the mother. And that is only possible in Germany.
Salis reported cockroaches in cell
Conditions in Hungarian prisons have been an issue since Salis’ case attracted a lot of attention in her home country of Italy. At the end of last year, excerpts from a letter from her to her father were quoted in the press. In it she complains about sometimes miserable prison conditions. Among other things, her cell is only three square meters in size and is infested with bed bugs and cockroaches.
She receives insufficient food and has been denied hygienic items such as tampons and sanitary pads several times. Instead, she had to use cotton tufts for her menstrual bleeding.
While a public debate has arisen about Salis’ case in Italy, which has now even prompted Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a post-fascist, to speak up for the anti-fascist Salis with her first-name friend Viktor Orban, the issue has so far received little attention in Germany.
Lili Kramer works for the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. The human rights organization has been concerned with the state of the Hungarian justice and prison system since 1989. In an interview with the MDR She explains that the prison conditions described by Salis are not exceptions: “In another case, a prisoner was isolated in a cell and then left there for days without toilet paper.” In general, the Hungarian prison system is characterized by overcrowding and a lack of staff. This often leads to disputes between guards and prisoners.
Stop deliveries only under tight conditions
But could Germany even prevent extradition to other EU countries? Sören Schomburg is an expert on extradition law issues. He has already represented Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont and whistleblower Julian Assange. In conversation with the MDR He explains that Germany, in principle, extradites to other EU countries. However, there is one restriction: “The Federal Republic of Germany may not take part in extraditions if it would lead to a human rights violation or if there is even just a risk.”
According to Schomburg, human rights violations include, for example, not receiving a fair trial or being tortured, but also being subjected to inhumane treatment. Prison conditions in particular are typically a reason to reject extraditions, he adds. In this regard, there have already been decisions against extraditions to Hungary, Romania and Great Britain in the past.
However, it is not enough for lawyers to describe general deficiencies in the rule of law or general deficiencies in prison conditions as examples, explains Schomburg. You would have to specifically explain the danger that such circumstances could arise in individual cases.
Any commitment apparently linked to confessions
The offer now made public by the parents of the people in hiding is not new for the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office, says Jarosch: “The lawyers have also contacted the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office.” The request was made to him repeatedly. “In principle you have to say that the public prosecutor’s office has the legal opportunity to prevent extradition.”
However, the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office has so far tied any promise to the defendants making extensive confessions immediately upon their arrest – probably in order to avoid lengthy proceedings, explains Jarosch.
According to the father, this cannot be possible given the threatening backdrop of what he believes to be inhumane prison conditions. “The presumption of innocence applies. I cannot demand or want anyone there to confess to anything. What happened must be determined in a fair, constitutional process,” emphasizes Jarosch.
Despite repeated requests, the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office did not comment in order not to jeopardize “the proper conduct of the ongoing proceedings,” it said.