Let a public area in Budapest be named after Aleksey Navalny, I deeply agree with the civic initiative on this, wrote Gergely Karácsony in his Facebook post on Tuesday. The only problem with this is that, by law, for the time being, no walkway can bear the name of the Russian opposition leader, who died under unclear circumstances, in the capital, on the other hand, that it was not civil organizations that initiated the naming, but the Democratic Coalition and lawyer László Majtényi, the opposition's 2017- and candidate for the head of state.

The Democratic Coalition announced in a statement on Monday that their faction in Terezváros will initiate the Metropolitan Assembly to "name a public area, a promenade in memory of the martyred Russian patriot, Alexei Navalny". According to their proposal, the VI. district, it would be a pedestrian walkway running between the boulevard and the service road, between Kodály körönd and Hősök tere. László Majtényi , the opposition's 2017 presidential candidate, had the same idea, according to him, "The section of Bajza utca between Aradi utca and Andrássy út should be named after Navalny." This is, not surprisingly, the section of the street next to the Russian embassy.

At the same time, Mayor Gergely Karácsony drew attention to the fact that Navalny's memory demands that we always adhere to the rule of law.

"In Budapest, this now means that in his case, too, we adhere to the otherwise correct principle, regulated in a decree, that public land can only be named after a person 5 years after his death. So, among many other things, I am also asking for authorization from the people of Budapest in June so that there can be a Navalnij street or a square in the capital."

Instead, the head of the capital would name a prize to keep the memory of the deceased alive.

"And I suggested to the Association of Free Cities, started by Warsaw, Bratislava, Prague and Budapest, which now includes more than 30 big cities, that we establish an award in the name of Alexei Navalny, in his memory, and to keep his legacy alive."

Cover image: 19.02.2024. Gergely Karácsony lights a candle in memory of Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny. Photo: Rania Ruzsa/Főváros / Gergely Karácsony Facebook