Ilaria Salis, the 39-year-old activist in prison since last February accused of attacking far-right demonstrators, appeared in court in chains, with handcuffs on her wrists and her feet tied by leather shackles with padlocks. Ansa noted this in the courtroom in Budapest where the woman entered with a hint of a smile towards the public. A female security force dragged her by a chain. Salis was wearing a light-colored sweater with horizontal stripes and holding a dark bag. Salis’ defense was supported by a lawyer from the firm of lawyer Gyorgy Magyar, known for his commitment to human rights issues. Reserving the right to present the counter-evidence at a further stage of the trial, the lawyer responded by arguing that the evidence of Salis’ participation in the attacks is questionable, as is the definition of “potentially fatal” of the injuries suffered by the victims given that they were found to be healable in eight days . Not even the crime of “criminal association” would be convincing. In the courtroom, in addition to the accused’s father, Roberto Salis, there were representatives of the Italian Embassy in Budapest, of various legal associations and many journalists. Also present as observers were two Italian lawyers, Eugenio Loasco And Mauro Straini.
The father’s anger
«My daughter is treated like an animal»: Roberto Salis comments on the first hearing. «For 11 months we have not been joking but we have been telling the facts – he continued – The point is that both politicians and the government and also many newspapers pretend not to see and continue to talk about whether he is guilty or not, leaving totally secondary to the fact that there is a shameful violation of civil rights.”
The lawyer’s statements
«It was shocking, a crazy image. She told us that she was always transferred in these conditions but seeing her really made an impression on us. She was being held like a dog, with handcuffs attached to a belt from which a chain ran down to her feet, with this guard pulling her with an iron chain. She and she remained like this for three and a half hours “: so at Ansa Eugenio Losco, one of Ilaria Salis’ Italian lawyers, present alongside her father Roberto at the first hearing in Budapest for the 39-year-old from Milan. “It is a serious violation of European legislation,” he added, “Italy must put an end to this situation now.”
Tajani to Hungary, “Not in line with our civilization”
“This time it seems to me that it has gone too far”: it is a “violation of community rules” and is not “in harmony with our legal civilisation”: the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, said this in an interview with Radio Me too. According to Tajani, “lawyers must ask for house arrest in Italy” and he also said that the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, met Ilaria’s father, Roberto, and is following the case closely. «We ask the Hungarian government to monitor and intervene to ensure that the rights, provided for by community regulations, of the Italian citizen Ilaria Salis detained awaiting trial are respected”, the deputy prime minister had written on
Minister Nordio in contact with the family
“It’s a very harsh photograph. We met the father, of course the Hungarian judiciary is sovereign. We can take action, as we are taking action, through diplomatic channels, doing everything possible to mitigate the rigorous conditions in which she is detained” he said the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio.
‘Free Ilaria Salis’, sit-in in front of the Hungarian embassy
«Free Ilaria Salis. She is one of us. You go back to Italy immediately.” This is the request of the Committee which today, together with the political and civil world, met at the Hungarian Embassy in Rome. Also present was the well-known Roman cartoonist Zerocalcare. Ilaria, 39 years old, an anti-fascist primary school teacher from Milan, has been detained in a prison in Budapest under maximum security for 11 months. «The accusation is of assault on 3 neo-Nazis during the celebrations of the ‘Day of Honor’ which commemorates the military actions of the SS during the Second World War. Every year this celebration becomes an opportunity for the far right to hunt down man, the “different””, they recalled in the square. For the crimes of which Ilaria is accused, she risks up to 16 years in prison. “The Meloni’s government, which has always winked at Orban, has done nothing to ensure that European law is respected and that Ilaria can serve her house arrest at home while awaiting trial”, they repeated in the square. Present, in addition to the Anpi and other associations, Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli of Avs, the MEP Massimiliano Smeriglio, the president of the VIII municipality of Rome Amedeo Ciaccheri, the regional councilor Claudio Marotta, the deputy of the Democratic Party Andrea Casu, the Roman dem exponent Marco Miccoli, and the human rights activist Gianluca Peciola who invited everyone to “continue the mobilization”.
The Milan city council requests Salis’ extradition
-the Milan city council, with 29 votes in favor and 6 abstentions, approved an agenda of the majority, the first signatory being the PD councilor Alessandro Giungi, which commits the mayor and the council to «request the Italian Government to intervene towards the Hungarian Government in order to allow, as provided for by the current agreements, the extradition of Ilaria Salis to Italy to spend the period of precautionary custody in her country and to participate in the trial via videoconference from Italy”. Salis has been in a maximum security prison in Budapest since February 11, 2023 and the trial of the 39-year-old teacher from Monza began today. The prosecutor’s office in the Hungarian capital has asked for 11 years in prison for the anti-fascist activist on charges of having participated in an attack on neo-fascist militants. Salis must answer for attempted manslaughter in conspiracy.