The term Budapest Complex () refers to several assaults that occurred in Budapest in February 2023, aimed at right-wing extremists in the days preceding the neo-Nazi "Day of Honor" demonstration. These attacks were attributed by Hungarian and German authorities to far-left militants from the antifa movement, among whom there are some individuals already involved in the Dresden left-wing extremists trial.
Events The "Day of Honor" represents one of the main neo-Nazi commemorations in Europe, with thousands of participants celebrating every February 12 the attempt by German forces and Hungarian collaborators to break the Siege of Budapest by the Red Army in 1945. For years, these events have been accompanied by counter-demonstrations by left-wing activists.
According to media reports, in 2023, the neo-Nazi demonstration was formally banned by Hungarian authorities but took place anyway in the green area of , far from the city center. In addition to giving Nazi salutes and wearing SS and Wehrmacht uniforms, the neo-Nazi demonstrators assaulted journalists present, two of whom were injured to the head. Later that evening, the neo-Nazi militants reportedly went also into the city center to attack left-wing counter-demonstrators. During the weekend around February 12, 2023, several assaults also occurred against people whom the attackers believed would be taking part in the neo-Nazi demonstration. According to Hungarian authorities, there were five attacks (two on February 9, two on the 10th, and one on the 11th) against a total of nine people, four of whom were seriously injured.
The first attack occurred on the morning of February 9 at Budapest Nyugati station against Tamás L., one of the founders of the far-right group Légio Hungária, who was sprayed with pepper spray. Subsequently, three Polish citizens, members of the far-right National Movement party, were attacked in Fővám Square (), on the Danube waterfront. For one minute, the three were assaulted from behind by a group of 7 or 8 hooded people who beat them with various objects including a telescopic baton, and finally sprayed them with pepper spray. Two of the three victims were reportedly seriously injured and later taken to the hospital.
On February 10, two attacks occurred. The first took place in the Gazdagrét district, targeting Zoltán T., a far-right extremist, who was leaving a post office. The victim was assaulted for about 30 seconds by a group of 11 people and then sprayed with pepper spray, suffering injuries to his eyes and ribs requiring 8 days of medical care. During the trial, Zoltán T. testified that his attackers had asked him if he would be participating in the "Day of Honor" and that, although he had answered no, they struck him on the head. In his opinion, the assailants targeted him because of his military clothing, which he explained he wore because he is a member of an association that preserves "tradition" and "Hungarian values". The second attack of the day occurred on Bank Street, in downtown Pest, against two people, one of whom was seriously injured. Finally, the last attack occurred the following day, shortly after midnight, on Mikó Street, a small street in the historic center of Buda, by 6 people against a couple of two German neo-Nazi militants, Sabine B. and Robert F. (who were leaving a neo-Nazi concert), and it also lasted about 30 seconds. One victim suffered head and elbow injuries requiring 8 days of medical care, while the other sustained minor injuries that did not require medical treatment.
According to Hungarian police, the victims were linked only by the fact that they were wearing military-style clothing and boots (a common element among far-right militants) and they were "passers-by". According to a witness and some videos, at least one Hungarian victim, László Dudog, a well-known musician from the neo-Nazi band Divízió 88, was wearing an SS Totenkopf on his cap. The attacks were carried out in similar ways, with the victims being ambushed from behind and then attacked with clubs, rubber hammers, telescopic batons, and pepper spray, in a manner similar to attacks carried out in Germany by left-wing extremists against far-right individuals. According to the German authorities, the objects used included kubotans, and there were also incidents such as the beating of an already unconscious man on the head, as well as contusions, fractures, and head trauma.
Arrests and trials On February 11, 2023, Hungarian police arrested two Germans and an Italian woman, suspected of participating in the attacks. In addition to them, a Hungarian citizen was subsequently arrested. According to Hungarian authorities, those arrested were found in possession of a rubber hammer, two telescopic batons, and a glove padded with lead.
Among the people whose arrest received the most attention was Ilaria Salis. Salis was arrested on February 11, accused of participating in the two attacks in Gazdagrét and Mikó Street (against a total of three people). She pleaded not guilty and rejected a plea bargain offering 11 years' imprisonment, and was held in custody in jail for all the months following. Salis's detention conditions were strongly criticized by, among others, international organizations such as the European Trade Union Confederation and the European Economic and Social Committee. In January 2024, her trial began, in which she faced charges of attempted assaults that could have caused life-threatening injuries and criminal association, with a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison. In May 2024, she was granted house arrest on bail, and was finally released following her election as a Member of the European Parliament.
Along with Salis, Tobias E. was also arrested. He had already been charged in the Dresden left-wing extremists trial with being a member of the so-called "Antifa-Ost" and participating in two attacks against right-wing extremists in Germany. After initially charging him with participating in the attacks, the Hungarian authorities limited the charge against him to membership in a criminal organization, a crime for which the maximum sentence under Hungarian law is five years. In January 2024, he plea-bargained with the authorities, confessing to being part of a criminal organization and waiving his procedural rights, in exchange for a reduced sentence. At first instance, he was sentenced to three years in prison, with a further five-year ban on entering the country. Tobias E. then appealed, and the sentence was reduced to one year and ten months of imprisonment on the grounds that he had not directly participated in the beatings but had only been present. At the end of his detention, in December 2024, Tobias E. was extradited to Germany, where he was transferred directly to prison pending the conclusion of two trials involving him. Upon his return to Germany, Tobias E. reported having been held in cells infested with bedbugs and cockroaches, cold in winter and hot in summer, with sporadic permission to wash in showers often lacking water. According to Tobias E.'s account, prison guards also beat some inmates in the showers, causing fractures and, in one case, even the death of an Algerian prisoner. He also stated that he received less food because he was not Hungarian.
The other German woman arrested, Anna M., was instead granted a suspended sentence pending trial. She too was charged with criminal association. She was also offered a plea bargain, in her case amounting to three and a half years in prison, but she refused it. Anna M. was subsequently expelled and she went back to Germany. On February 4, 2026, in the same trial against Maja T., she was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for criminal association.
Further investigations and extraditions Following the attacks, Hungarian authorities launched a vast search operation, publishing the names and photos of suspects. German authorities subsequently also launched their investigations. As a result, several arrest warrants (including international ones) were issued against various people in Germany, Italy, and France, who were suspected of involvement in the Budapest attacks and of being members of, or having links with, the group known as "Antifa-Ost" (, also called "Hammerbande" by the media because they used hammers against their victims during several attacks in Germany).
Germany Following the issuance of international arrest warrants by the Hungarian authorities, ten Germans belonging to extreme left-wing organizations went underground. Subsequently, further arrest warrants were issued by German prosecutors. This investigation led to several arrests, including figures believed to be part of Antifa-Ost, such as Johann G., suspected of being the group's leader, and Hanna S., who was not sought by the Hungarian authorities. In March 2024, investigations in Germany were taken over directly by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office.
On January 20, 2025, seven people, six Germans and one Syrian, turned themselves in to authorities in Germany (in Kiel, Hamm, Cologne, and Bremen), asking not to be extradited to Hungary. Six of them had European Arrest Warrants issued against them. At the end of January, German authorities announced that they would not extradite the six suspects with German citizenship.
The Maja T. case In November 2023, Hungarian authorities also issued an arrest warrant against Maja T., suspected of participating in four attacks in the Hungarian capital. The following month, the Dresden public prosecutor's office issued another German arrest warrant against them. On December 11, 2023, Saxon Police arrested Maja T. in Berlin, and subsequently transferred them to Dresden prison. Despite protests from their lawyer, who argued that his client would be at risk of discrimination in Hungary as an antifascist and as a non-binary person, the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office agreed to the Hungarian requests in January 2024, asking the Berlin Kammergericht to authorize the extradition. On June 27, the court granted the request, after assurances from the Hungarian Ministry of Justice that detention conditions respectful of human rights would be guaranteed and that the defendant would have the opportunity to serve the sentence in Germany once the Hungarian trial was concluded. At 2:00 AM the following day, the extradition was physically initiated, a fact which Maja T.'s lawyer was informed of at 3:30 AM. The defense then requested a temporary injunction from the German Federal Constitutional Court at 7:38 AM on June 28. At 10:50 AM, the Constitutional Court issued its ruling, granting the defense's request and suspending the extradition. At that point, however, the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office informed the Court and the defense that the extradition had already been carried out at 6:50 AM with the handover of the defendant to the Austrian authorities, who then transferred the prisoner to the Hungarian authorities at 10:00 AM. The extradition procedure was particularly rapid, thanks in part to the use of a helicopter for the transfer to the Austrian border.