Italian Teacher Faces 24 Years in Hungarian Prison for Alleged Assault Amidst Political Tensions

Ilaria Salis is a teacher from Monza, 39 years old, and since February 2023 has been imprisoned in Hungary. She is accused of having assaulted two men, causing injuries deemed healable in 5 and 8 days; it does not appear that the two, who were celebrating the Day of Honor, filed a complaint. The alleged assault took place in Budapest on the eve of February 11: The Day of Honor is an occasion during which followers of Nazism from all over Europe celebrate the attempt by the German army, which also included units of Hungarian soldiers, to break the siege of the capital in February 1945. This attempt failed because the Soviet troops left no gaps. Since the late 1990s, this event has been celebrated, gathering neo-Nazis also from the rest of Europe, and in recent years, since sovereigntism has fueled far-right movements, it has also been the scene of clashes with antifascists. More and more right-wing extremists stop in Budapest in the early days of February knowing that their celebration will be tolerated. Only in 2022, for public order reasons, was the celebration canceled. Ilaria Salis, a convinced antifascist and activist for social rights, sometimes defined as anarchist, risks up to 24 years in prison after refusing a deal for 11 years. She has always declared herself not guilty. The trial was postponed to May 24 after being initiated with the opening of the preliminary investigation and the evidentiary requests: during the hearing, the Italian was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs, with a chain pulled by a guard at her feet. A medieval inhuman treatment unfortunately in use in Hungary. The same treatment, despite Italy's protests, was reserved for her today, March 28, at the end of the hearing after which house arrest in Hungary was denied to her. In the meantime, a German co-defendant of Ilaria Salis was sentenced to three years thanks to an immediate trial favored by the man who pleaded guilty. The case of Ilaria Salis, initially imprisoned in a jail with cells and conditions unworthy of a civilized country and then transferred to more suitable facilities thanks to the pressure of the media and the Italian embassy, exploded because of that treatment with chains which, according to the defense, violates European law as well as some steps of the procedural process seemed illegitimate: the defenders were not provided with the video recording of the alleged assault. There was also a lack of translation into Italian of the charges. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, an organization that defends the rights of prisoners, has repeatedly denounced the failure of the Hungarian authorities to comply with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. Moreover, Amnesty International recalls that the 2009 Council of Europe framework decision on mutual recognition of decisions on 'alternative measures to pre-trial detention', which in these cases provides for a series of alternative measures for the detainee, such as house arrest, also applicable while awaiting the verdict. Moreover, jurists emphasize that 'the European Community has established the possibility of obtaining house arrest in one's own country, precisely because disparities in treatment between European citizens should not occur, whose risk of flight should not act as a discriminating element'. This is what motivates the request, so far rejected, of the embassy and the defenders of Ilaria Salis to have house arrest in Italy and to be able to participate in the trial via video conference.