A radical Italian Antifa activist accused of attacking people with a hammer in Budapest has been elected to the European Parliament, potentially paving the way for her to be freed from custody in Hungary.
Ilaria Salis, a 39-year-old schoolteacher and “anti-fascist” activist currently under house arrest in Hungary, has won a seat in the EU parliament on behalf of the Green-Left Alliance (AVS) in Italy, ANSA reports.
Salis has been accused of being part of a leftist group of mostly Germans who allegedly attacked a group of supposed “neo-Nazis” on February 11th in 2023 as they honoured the Nazi Waffen SS soldiers and Hungarian allied troops who fought the Red Army during the Siege of Budapest by the Soviets during World War II.
The Antifa activist is currently on trial for attempted murder while under house arrest after previously being held in Budapest’s Gyorskocsi Street maximum security prison. Prosecutors in Hungary have asked for Salis to be jailed for 11 years, but her father was warned that she may be imprisoned for as many as 24 years.
However, the activist may be spared from jail and even further prosecution due to European Union law, which grants members of the EU Parliament immunity throughout the entire bloc during the parliamentary session. This means that the immunity will not kick in until she is officially sworn in as an MEP.
Eugenio Losco, a lawyer representing Ilaria Salis, told Il Messaggero: “For the procedure now we have to wait for a formal step in which Ilaria will be proclaimed parliamentarian.
“Once we have this step, we will make a request to the Hungarian judges for her release, because Ilaria has the right to parliamentary immunity, according to Article 9 of Protocol 7 on the immunity of European parliamentarians, which provides for exemption from any form of detention and the suspension of criminal proceedings. Hungary can only take note of this and order the release.”
Italian teacher Ilaria Salis arrives in the Hungarian court of Budapest on March 28, 2024 ahead her trial for attacking neo-Nazis. Salis was arrested in Budapest in February 2023 and with three counts of attempted assault and accused of being part of an extreme left-wing organisation following a counter-demonstration against a neo-Nazi rally. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP) (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images)
Yet because such a move would not represent an acquittal, it is possible for the presiding judge in Hungary to request that the EU strip Salis of her immunity so that she can face prosecution. While Salis has maintained that she is innocent, the court in Budapest has claimed to have video evidence, which could be passed on to a European parliamentary committee to consider revoking her immunity.
The case has sparked a diplomatic row between Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and longtime ally Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has personally lobbied for the release of the leftist activist. Italy has objected to the antifa radical appearing in court in chains, while Hungary has said there was nothing improper about the conditions faced by Salis during her incarceration.
In a bid to help her obtain release, the Green-Left Alliance (AVS) put her forward as a candidate for the European elections. Responding to her victory, AVS leader Nicola Fratoianni said: “We can say one thing now: we have heard many things, they accused us of having used candidacies for instrumental purposes. I think we can say that we did the right thing in acting.”
Italian Deputy PM Matteo Salvini said: “When citizens vote they are always right: just as it was legitimate to nominate Ilaria Salis, it was legitimate for Italians to vote for her… this is democracy, it’s right”.
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