Budapest
\nAn Italian anti-fascist activist accused of attacking alleged neo-Nazis in Hungary is to go on trial in a Budapest court on Friday (24 May), in a case that has sparked tensions between Rome and Budapest.
\nThe case of Ilaria Salis, 39, has been front-page news in Italy after she appeared in court in January handcuffed and chained, with her feet shackled.
\nItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni enjoys cordial relations with Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orb\u00e1n but the case has caused bilateral tensions, with Rome making official complaints on behalf of Salis.
\nThe teacher from Monza, near Milan, was arrested in Budapest in February last year.
\nProsecutors allege Salis travelled to Budapest specifically to carry out the attacks against \u201cunsuspecting victims identified as or perceived as far-right sympathisers\u201d to deter \u201crepresentatives of the far-right movement\u201d.
\nShe was charged with three counts of attempted assault and accused of being part of an extreme left-wing criminal organisation in the wake of a counter-demonstration against an annual neo-Nazi rally.
\nSalis denies the charges \u2014 which could see her jailed for up to 11 years \u2014 and claims that she is being persecuted for her political beliefs.
\nA defiant Salis told Italian newspaper La Stampa via her father in an interview published last week that she was \u201con the right side of history\u201d.
\nOn Friday, one of the victims and witnesses of one of the attacks are scheduled to testify, according to one of Salis\u2019s Hungarian legal representatives.
\nLawyer Gyorgy Magyar complained to AFP ahead of the trial that Salis has not yet received all the case documents in \u201cher native language\u201d.
\n\u201cThe translators promised to finish translating the documents in November, but until that (is done) she will not give any substantial testimony, and rightfully so,\u201d he added.
\nSalis spent more than 15 months behind bars, but on Thursday was moved to house arrest on a 16 million forints (around \u20ac41,000) bail, according to her father Roberto Salis.
\nMEP candidate
\nShe might be freed before any verdict is rendered on her case, if she is elected as a Member of the European Parliament.
\nLast month, the Italian Green and Left Alliance (AVS) nominated her as their lead candidate for the upcoming European elections.
\nIf the party garners enough votes at the ballot, Salis might be eligible to access parliamentary immunity, leading to the suspension of the criminal proceedings against her.
\nPoliticised case
\nThe case of Ilaria Salis has been highly politicised, with the Hungarian government frequently commenting on it.
\nSalis\u2019s father has accused the Hungarian authorities of double standards, claiming that they treated neo-Nazis, who allegedly assaulted anti-fascist activists around the same time, much more leniently.
\n\u201cIn this country, those people are considered patriots while anti-fascists are enemies of the state,\u201d Roberto Salis told media.
\nHe claims that his daughter was kept in inhumane prison conditions until January when her case received significant media coverage.
\n\u201cFor eight days, she was kept in a prison in a solitary cell, without being provided with toilet paper, sanitary towels, and soap.
\n\u201cDuring that period, she would have needed the sanitary towels\u2026 in Italy, we would consider this torture,\u201d Roberto Salis said.
\nThe Council of Europe has criticised Hungary\u2019s overcrowded prisons.
\nAccording to Eurostat, Hungary in 2022 recorded the highest prisoner rate per 100,000 people in the EU, followed by Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
\nHungarian officials have denied accusations of ill-treatment.
\nPrime Minister Orb\u00e1n\u2019s nationalist government has repeatedly denounced the media for allegedly depicting Salis as a \u201cmartyr\u201d, instead pointing to what it called the \u201cbrutality\u201d of her alleged crimes.
\n\u201cWhat we see here, in a quite outrageous case, is someone committing a brutal and public crime, and the European far-left is standing up for her and even trying to make her an MEP,\u201d Orban\u2019s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said on Thursday.
\n\u201cIt is incompatible with everything we see as European values, human decency and the necessity of punishing crimes,\u201d he added.
\nSalis\u2019s father has complained that the Italian government has provided only \u201climited\u201d help to his daughter.
\nItaly\u2019s Ambassador to Hungary is expected to attend the trial on Friday, the embassy told AFP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Budapest An Italian anti-fascist activist accused of attacking alleged neo-Nazis in Hungary is to go on trial in a Budapest court on Friday (24 May), in a case that has sparked tensions between Rome and Budapest. The case of Ilaria Salis, 39, has been front-page news in Italy after she appeared in court in January […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-409123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n