According to the student activist, after his scandalous performance, his former high school "made it impossible" for him to continue his studies there.
On Tuesday, the Pécs Court of Justice announced its verdict in the personal law lawsuit brought by opposition activist student Lili Pankotai with the help of TASZ against her former school, the Cistercian Order Nagy Lajos High School in Pécs. Lili Pankotai, who exploded into public life with her profanity-filled poem, i.e. slam poetry, at the opposition demonstration on October 23, 2022, sued her former school because after her performance that caused a great storm
according to him, they made it impossible for him to stay there, so he had to change schools.
As he said in an interview, "the lawsuit is intended as a call to attention so that other schools, management, and school districts realize that they cannot afford everything and that their actions have consequences."
Since then, the student who has appeared at many teachers' demonstrations and also participated in Momentum's cordon-breaking actions, continued her studies at the Alternative High School of Economics in Budapest, but was only able to pass her high school diploma a year later than she should have.
The personal rights lawsuit began last November with a hearing, at which the court heard the defendant and the plaintiff, and the parties presented their evidentiary motions. However, at the next hearing, an unexpected turn occurred: the court stopped the proceedings after the parties started negotiations for an out-of-court settlement.
At that time, the court announced that the proceedings would be suspended for four months, and if neither party requests a continuation during that time, the lawsuit would be terminated. All of this was also interesting because the representative of the TASZ spoke earlier about a precedent-setting case, which will serve as a guideline for other institutions as well.
In the end, however, the agreement was not reached after the plaintiff, i.e. Lili Pankotai, requested the continuation of the proceedings.
This is how we arrived at the sentencing on Tuesday, at which the Pécs Court of First Instance ruled in favor of the defendant and stated that
the gymnasium did not violate the student's personal rights.
According to the court's reasoning, although the female student classified certain behaviors as harassing, they did not violate the requirement of equal treatment or the protection of personal rights enshrined in the Civil Code. In the proceedings, it was also proven that the school was attacked because of the student's actions.
The verdict is not final, Mandiner wrote .
Cover image: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák