The official position of the Farnesina is clear: Budapest is evaluating alternatives to prison for Ilaria Salis, the anarchist teacher accused of attacking two right-wing extremists in the Hungarian capital. On instructions from the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, the Secretary General of the Farnesina, Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia, summoned the Chargé d'Affaires of the Republic of Hungary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this morning. «In reiterating the protest of the Italian Government for the conditions» in which Ilaria Salis is detained and is held in the hearings (in chains and on a leash) Guariglia «expressed the Government's firm expectation» that Salis be granted «as soon as possible precautionary detention regime in line with European legislation, including alternative measures to prison detention".
But on the direct responsibilities of Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister and right-wing leader with whom Giorgia Meloni has a special relationship, Tajani holds back: "It has nothing to do with it," claims the head of the Farnesina. «It's not that the government decides the trial. The judiciary is independent." And again: «The problem is to see if the rules were respected before or after, it's not that we can intervene, Hungary is a sovereign state. We can only protest" because "this time it seems to me that it has gone too far", it is a "violation of community standards" and it is not "in harmony with our legal civilisation". "We will not leave our fellow citizen in a state of disrespect" and "we cannot compromise on this."
However, the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida, a member of Fratelli d'Italia, does not comment. Responding in the Chamber to reporters who asked if he had seen the images of Ilaria Salis chained in court in Hungary, those which yesterday made the rounds in the media and the web and today are in all the newspapers: «I haven't seen them, I'm going to see them . I don't comment on things I haven't seen."
The 39-year-old of Sardinian origins, at the trial hearing in Hungary, where she has been detained for almost a year, was brought into the courtroom with chains and a leash. Although Roberto Salis, Ilaria's father, said he was sure that the embassy knew about that treatment: «I believe that the Italian Embassy participated in at least four hearings in which my daughter was brought before the judge in these conditions. Until October 12, when my daughter wrote a letter, we had no evidence of the treatment our daughter was undergoing. The only ones who knew and didn't say anything were the people from the Italian Embassy in Hungary." «My daughter – he concluded – is treated like an animal».
«A crazy image. She told us that she was always transferred in these conditions but seeing her really made an impression on us", said Eugenio Losco, one of her lawyers present in the courtroom. In the meantime, Salis will have to remain in cell for a long time, given that the first hearing ended and was immediately adjourned to May 24th. She has pleaded not guilty. Different choice for another German co-defendant, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. An official from our embassy was also present in the courtroom and today the lawyers and his father Roberto will have a meeting with the Italian ambassador in Budapest. A possible glimmer of hope comes from the EU: Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders has made it known that "the Commission is always available to help in the framework of these bilateral contacts that have been made by Italy with Hungary".
Meanwhile, on the case, M5s requests urgent information from Meloni : «Yesterday's shocking images of Ilaria Salis, shackled in an undignified manner in the court of a country of which Giorgia Meloni boasts of being a friend, leave us astonished – said Francesco Silvestri, M5S group leader in the Chamber – When the Chamber opens we will immediately ask the Prime Minister for urgent information. The gravity of the situation requires immediate information and intervention. We want to understand if the government, through the Farnesina, already knew about Ilaria's condition. We hope that Giorgia Meloni will put the interests of Italian citizens before those of Orban."
(Unioneonline/D)
