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Martin Schirdewan MEP has demanded an EU-wide ban on extraditions to Hungary. The call, by the joint leader of The Left Group in the EU parliament, comes in the wake of a hunger strike by Maja T., a 24-year-old from Germany.
He started his protest in a Hungarian prison, where he has been held in isolation since June 2024. The act, according the Left Group, is a desperate protest against inhumane conditions and a politically charged trial that could see them sentenced up to 24 years in prison.
Martin Schirdewan, co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament, says: “It is shocking that a young person must resort to such a drastic measure in order to be heard by the federal government.”
“A hunger strike is not a symbolic gesture—it is an existential act with severe health consequences. Political and legal authorities cannot stand idly by while Maja’s health and life hang in the balance, simply for demanding a minimally fair legal process.”
“It is high time the German government takes responsibility and brings Maja back to Germany—before it’s too late.”
Schirdewan also called for an EU-wide ban on extraditions to Hungary, citing the ongoing detention and mistreatment of Italian anti fascist and Left MEP Ilaria Salis, who spent over 15 months under degrading conditions in a Hungarian prison.
Another Left MEP Carola Rackete adds: “Maja’s hunger strike is also the fault of the German federal government. Four months ago, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the extradition of Maja T. to Hungary was unjust.”
Rackete said, “Despite this, there were hardly any political efforts to bring Maja back to Germany. If German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil seriously want to distance themselves from right-wing extremists and stand up for democratic values, then they must not stand idly by while Orban’s regime destroys human lives in Hungarian courts, but must instead campaign for Maja’s return.”
Further comment came from Left MEP Ilaria Salis who says: “I remember all too well what it feels like to be dragged in front of your inquisitor, bound by a leash like an animal. To live confined within those walls, enduring daily humiliation and deprivation, cut off from the world and your loved ones. The conditions of detention and legal proceedings in Hungary are unbearable and fundamentally at odds with the basic principles of the rule of law. That is why Maja has begun a hunger strike — it is the only way to make her voice heard, to affirm her humanity and her rights. The German authorities must act immediately to bring Maja home,” said the MEP.
The Left Group says that conditions in Hungarian prisons have been widely condemned by human rights organisations, particularly for LGBTQI individuals, Roma people, migrants, and political prisoners. Reports by Amnesty International and EU institutions have documented what the Left Group in a statement calls “Hungary’s systematic erosion of judicial independence, discriminatory policies, and the political use of law enforcement.”
In January 2024, the European Parliament expressed serious concern about the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary.
