Hungary Frees Italian ‘Attacker’ Of Nazis After Winning Seat In EU Parliament
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – An Italian “anti-fascist” on trial for allegedly attacking neo-Nazis has been freed from house arrest in Budapest as she was elected to the European Parliament, which grants her immunity from persecution, officials said.
Ilaria Salis, who will serve as a Green-Left Alliance legislator, was due to celebrate her 40th birthday in Italy on Monday.
The former Monza elementary teacher had been accused of being part of a German-led “hammer gang” that allegedly targeted neo-Nazis on their annual “Day of Honour” on February 11.
The event, held annually, sees far-right activists mark the failed attempt by Nazi and allied Hungarian soldiers to break out of Budapest during the Red Army’s siege in 1945.
The alleged victims were reportedly briefly hospitalized but didn’t complain to police.
The woman had been to court on several occasions on a chain with her hands and ankles cuffed, sparking shock and protests in Italy.
Budapest said it was standard procedure for its prisoners.
BROADER CONCERNS
A Worthy News reporter observed similar treatment for other suspects including from the Netherlands, like Italy, a fellow European Union nation.
In a letter to her lawyer, she detailed the conditions she had faced inside prison since her arrest: cells “infested with rats” and bugs, not being allowed to wash for days at a time, and a lack of urgent medical care. In May, she was granted house arrest in Budapest.
Following public outcry, Rome summoned the Hungarian ambassador and eventually secured her transfer to house arrest in May.
Her father, Roberta Salis, expressed joy after she won the European Parliament seat in the just concluded European Union-wide elections.
Salis won her seat as a candidate with the Greens and Left Alliance, which won about 6.8 percent of the Italian vote on Sunday.
Before the elections, Salis’ father repeatedly voiced concerns, saying that Salis faced up to 24 years in jail on charges of attempted murder. The Hungarian prosecutor had asked for a prison term of 11 years.
After she was elected a member of the European Parliament, her lawyers requested her release based on the immunity enjoyed by EU lawmakers. The court responded that it was awaiting the official communication of her election to the parliament.
SUPPORTERS DELIGHTED
On Monday, Salis called her lawyers in Italy to inform them that she had received the Hungarian judge’s decision to release her from house arrest. “Finally! We are delighted by the news coming from Budapest that [Member of the European Parliament] MEP Ilaria Salis can now return to Italy and fulfill her new role as indicated by hundreds of thousands of voters,” said Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni of Italy’s Greens and Left Alliance party, in a joint statement.
“Our thanks go to all those who, like us, have been outraged and have not accepted the terrible condition in which she was held in Orbán’s prisons over these months. Now, she can defend the civil and social rights of the most vulnerable together with us. We look forward to welcoming her,” they said, referring to Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
Bonelli and Fratoianni decided to put Salis as a candidate on the Greens and Left Alliance lists for the EU’s parliament election. “Now, after this first victory, which is so important for her and all of us, we want to bring her back to Italy and Brussels as an MEP,” they said.
Experts say that members of the EU’s 720-seat legislature enjoy substantial legal immunity from prosecution, even if the allegations pertain to crimes committed before their election.
Yet Hungary’s government expressed concerns about the situation. Gergely Gulyás, a Hungarian government spokesperson, said: “Sending a criminal to the European Parliament does not benefit either the European Parliament or the voters.”
He said the election of Salis in Italy made for “a negative image of Italian democracy and of a portion of the voters’ will that wanted to send a criminal to the European Parliament.”
The politically sensitive issue complicated the close relationship between Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán. Both sought closer political cooperation, but the Hungarian government repeatedly had to defend its treatment of the Italian activist being held in jail.
While she has been released, international concerns remain about the treatment of prisoners in Hungary, including migrants.
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