ROME (AP) – Italy is changing its treatment of an Italian anti-fascist in a Hungarian prison after images of her in chains and shackles at a court hearing in Budapest sparked outrage here this week. We are intensifying our protests over this.
Ilaria Saris was arrested in Budapest last year and is suspected of involvement in assaults on participants in commemorations of Hungary’s Day of Honor. On February 11 every year, far-right activists commemorate the failed attempt by Nazis and their Hungarian allies to escape Budapest during the Red Army’s siege of the city in 1945.
On Wednesday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke about Salisu’s detention in a telephone conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Orbán’s press director Bertalan Habashi told local news site telex.hu.
Earlier this week, Italy’s foreign ministry summoned Hungary’s deputy ambassador to lodge a formal protest after Saris appeared in court with his wrists and ankles bound and his movements restricted by chains.
In a statement, the ministry recalled European and international law requiring the need to respect the dignity of prisoners “including the manner in which defendants are brought to court and the guarantee of a fair trial.”
Specifically, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires alternatives to pre-trial detention, such as house arrest, that the indictment be translated into Italian, and that lawyers have access to videos of the alleged incident so that Saris can mount a defense. I asked him to do so.
However, the incident is a sensitive issue for the far-right-led Meloni government, which has built a friendly relationship with Prime Minister Orban.
Senate President Ignazio La Russa, a member of Meloni’s Italian Brotherhood party, said Italian law “forbids prisoners from being handcuffed and displayed in humiliating conditions, but this is not the case in Hungary.” ” he said.
In his comments to RAI, La Russa called for further government intervention, taking into account the need to “not humiliate prisoners and respect their dignity even when detained for serious crimes.” Ta.
Hungarian prosecutors had asked for 11 years in prison if Salisu was convicted.
Even before court footage hit the front pages of Italian newspapers this week, Sarris’ case and prison conditions were brought to light by leftist lawmakers in a European It was brought up in parliament. cockroach.
“The conditions in Hungary’s prisons have been documented and criticized by the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe’s Committee against Torture,” he said, referring to calls for EU intervention by members of Italy’s Social Democratic Union.