By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – A tense calm returned to the streets of Hungary’s capital, Budapest, after the widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of being an accomplice in the death of her husband and the war in Ukraine.
Yulia Navalnaya spoke Friday at one of several anti-government rallies in which tens of thousands of people participated to demonstrate against what they view as Orbán’s authoritarian style.
Navalny, seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most serious domestic rival, died last month in the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony where he was serving a lengthy prison sentence on what his supporters view as trumped-up charges.
After Navalny’s death, Orbán and his Fidesz party publicly refused to mourn the Kremlin critic. When opposition members in parliament asked legislators to stand for a minute’s silence for Navalny, the Fidesz faction stubbornly remained seated.
Navalny’s wife also recalled that Orbán is known as one of Europe’s most outspoken pro-Kremlin politicians and maintains close ties with Putin.
“My husband was a powerful and inspiring man. Millions of people stood behind him. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin could not have handled him alone. Unfortunately, it turned out that one of his political accomplices was Viktor Orbán,” she told the crowd in a video message.
“Why did Putin start the war in Ukraine? Because he knew he had loyal allies [such as Orbán] in Europe,” Navalnaya added.
The widow said that, like in Hungary, many Russians fight for freedom. “Be brave,” Navalnaya told the protesters on laud applause, adding that she and others support them.
PROUD HUNGARIAN
Among those listening was 24-year-old student Ákos, who declined to give his last name. He told Worthy News that he, too, fights for freedom peacefully. “I am very proud to be Hungarian. I love my country, and I hope for the best because I want to continue living here and not going abroad, for example, to Germany,” he stressed.
Ákos’ sentiments were shared by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, who organized the together rally along with student associations.
Karácsony, a politician from the small left-liberal opposition party PM, made clear that Budapest stands up for freedom while Hungary is not Orbán but a country with democratic values.
The opposition groups rallied in Budapest on March 15 to mark Hungary’s annual National Memorial Day of the 1848 Revolution and against Austrian-Habsburg rule.
Like Hungarians rallied against the Austrian empire and called for autonomy from the Habsburg Monarchy, nowadays opposition leaders also called for political reforms.
Hungary’s government also faces a challenge from a former insider of Orbán’s Fidesz party: Péter Magyar, the former husband of one-time justice minister and Orbán ally Judit Varga.
Magyar told a massive crowd in Budapest that he plans to form a new political party to challenge Fidesz’s 14-year grip on power and act as an alternative to Hungary’s fragmented opposition.
‘NO BRIBES’
“If Hungarian voters finally see a real political force that cannot be bribed or blackmailed, that is honest, straight, open and free of extremes, then more and more people will believe that there is hope for change … after decades in a political swamp,” Magyar said.
He accused Orbán’s government of corruption and economic mismanagement, adding that the country should no longer be a nation of oligarchs and overweighed men.
Hungary’s position among its partners and allies has also faced strain in recent months, recalled U.S. Ambassador David Pressman, who serves in Budapest.
Pressman criticized Hungary’s recent obstructionism toward Sweden’s NATO accession and accused Orbán of pursuing dangerous relationships with Russia and China.
Orbán’s government, he stressed, “labels and treats the United States as an ‘adversary’ while making policy choices that increasingly isolate it from friends and allies.”
He made the remarks Thursday in a speech marking the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s NATO membership, highlighting concerns over Hungary’s reliability as an ally in the military alliance.
Pressman said Orbán’s government “appears to have little interest in constructive dialogue” to solve disagreements with its partners.
CONSERVATIVE VICTORY?
Orbán has denied wrongdoing and aims for success this summer for conservative forces in upcoming European Parliament elections. He also maintains close relations with the American right, including former President Donald J. Trump, who Orbán hopes will return to the White House.
The Hungarian leader last week visited the United States, where he met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and openly called for a Trump victory over President Joe Biden in the November elections.
On Friday, Orbán once again criticized the European Union, saying, “We have to occupy Brussels … we are changing the EU,” in reference to the upcoming European elections in June.
Orbán faces criticism in Brussels for his perceived attempts to undermine the rule of law and corruption.
He also confronts arguably the biggest scandal in his government’s continued 14-year rule after the previous President Katalin Novák, a close ally, granted a pardon to a convicted accomplice in the sexual abuse of children at a state-run orphanage.
Novák, Hungary’s first female and youngest-ever president, resigned while Judit Varga, the former justice minister, stepped down as legislator over the scandal.
Tamás Sulyok took over as Hungary’s president on March 5, promising “transparency” in his decisions about presidential pardons and awards.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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