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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday night in Hungary that the controversy over the treatment of a woman from Milan, who could face up to 11 years in prison for her role in a series of violent acts, worsened. He called leader Viktor Orbán.
Photos of 39-year-old teacher Ilaria Salisu appearing in a Budapest court Monday with her hands and feet shackled sparked outrage in Italy. In Italy, even a hardened mafia on trial for multiple murders is rarely seen in chains. Several front-page headlines on Tuesday reported that she was “treated like an animal.”
The incident is a political headache for Mr Meloni, who is known for his long-standing warm relationship with Mr Orbán, and could cause friction between the two leaders as they prepare for European Union elections in June. .
The Italian leader’s personal appeal to Mr Orbán to intervene on Mr Salis’s behalf came after the Hungarian ambassador to Italy had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Rome for a dressing down earlier in the day. .
“Italians in chains – hand and foot in Hungary,” Giuseppe Conte, leader of Italy’s opposition Five Star Movement, wrote in a social media post on Tuesday ahead of the phone call. “Giorgia Meloni, we do not care that Orbán is your dear friend. We must act decisively and speak out.”
Salisu, who was said to be associated with an international anti-fascist group, is charged with grievous bodily harm and involvement in organized crime for allegedly helping to lead a violent assault in Budapest in February last year.
The attack came on the heels of a far-right demonstration in the Hungarian capital, after which suspected left-wing extremists used iron bars to attack several people believed to be neo-Nazi sympathizers.
Her family and relatives said she had been held in an inhumane prison since her arrest last February.
“This is not Europe,” Italian opposition lawmaker Carlo Calenda wrote in X, comparing Salisu’s appearance in court to “the disgraceful acts of South American dictatorships in the 1970s.” He called on the Italian government and Brussels to protest.
The use of shackles is not uncommon in Hungarian trials.
Until Sallis’ court appearance on Monday, Meloni’s government had so far not commented publicly on the matter, and Sallis’ family had expressed frustration at Rome’s lack of interest. But following a public outcry, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani demanded that Salisu’s “rights be respected in accordance with EU standards”. [she] Waiting for trial.”
Italy’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that it had reminded Hungary’s ambassador in Budapest of his responsibility to protect the “dignity of people in prison.”
The statement called on the Hungarian government to ensure that Salisz’s detention conditions are “in accordance with European law” and to consider possible alternatives to prison. Rome has indicated that Saris may be kept under house arrest until his trial.
Sarris denies the charges against him. “I did not commit these crimes. I do not accept the charges,” she told the court, according to local media.
Last year, police released a video showing eight assailants using metal rods, hammers and pepper spray to punch and kick a man near an apartment building in Budapest in February. The attackers attacked him from behind and assaulted him before quickly dispersing. There were five similar attacks in the city within 48 hours.
The attack coincided with far-right commemorations of the World War II battle known as “Breakout,” in which Wehrmacht soldiers and their Hungarian allies attempted to escape from the Soviet Union’s 1945 blockade of Budapest.
Prosecutors said last year that it was plausible that the suspect in the case arrived in Hungary “for a breakout day.” Two other people were also indicted along with Sallis. Police issued international arrest warrants for a further 14 people, most of them German nationals.
Salisu’s lawyer, György Magyar, said the charges, which could carry a maximum sentence of 11 years, were “totally disproportionate” and that he intended to challenge them in court.
Salis and his co-defendants “took an ideological position. It was a form of civil disobedience, not organized criminal violence,” the Magyars said. “Her charges against her are that she was at two of the locations along with her colleagues. However, the defendant denies that she was at fault.”