In chains , with handcuffs tightened on her wrists and ankles and a belt around her waist, kept on a leash by the Hungarian prison police. Thus Ilaria Salis was brought to court today, detained in prison in Budapest since last February on charges of having attacked two neo-Nazi militants during a demonstration. The trial of the 39-year-old teacher of Sardinian origins began this morning at 9am, when he entered the courtroom, and lasted three and a half hours. A scene that mobilized the government, with the intervention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, and the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio.

The process

The woman faces up to 24 years in prison . But what worries her family, friends and her lawyer are primarily the conditions in which she is kept in the penitentiary, which are said to be "inhumane". During today's hearing - which took place in front of a "municipal court" - the accused pleaded not guilty and communicated with the magistrates through a translator. With her there were also two co-defendants, a German man and a woman, also accused of attacks carried out last February in the streets of the city against right-wing extremists. Then in the courtroom the lawyers of the other two presented their evidentiary requests, but - as the lawyer Eugenio Losco explains - Salis was not able to present them because, unlike the others, he did not have the opportunity to access the documents, given that a large part did not has been translated. The accusations themselves are based on audio and video materials that have not been viewed.

The accusation

The trial was then adjourned to May 24 but there could be a further hearing in October. A magistrate spoke at length, explaining the indictment which led to the indictment, according to which the accused are part of a left-wing extremist organisation, formed in Germany and made up of mainly young people who, in addition to taking part in rallies and demonstrations , had planned to fight with physical attacks against far-right sympathizers of neo-Nazi and neo-fascist ideology. Salis, presented as the main accused, again according to the prosecutor, would have participated in multiple attacks "causing aggravated bodily harm, in "criminal conspiracy", to two people and would have participated in a similar crime against a third". Given the dangerousness of the acts carried out, the magistrate asked for an 11-year prison sentence as expected And.

The lawyer

While waiting for May, Losco explains, Salis "should remain in prison", imprisoned in critical conditions, the same described by Carmen Giorgio , a 43-year-old from Brescia who shared a cell with her for three months: " Mice, pigeons, bedbugs, chains, mistreatment and beatings, we saw everything in there, it's a place out of this world full of wrong things. And she is afraid of staying there forever ." Escorting the 39-year-old into the courtroom today were prison guards, wearing camouflage riot gear and with their faces covered. A situation that is "not normal", thunders the lawyer. In Italy "a similar situation would not be admissible, with European legislation also requiring the accused to participate in the hearing freely and alongside his lawyer".

The committee

The family, which has long loudly denounced their daughter's situation, has launched an online petition for her release. «The very fact – writes the “Ilaria Salis libera” committee – that she is detained in extreme conditions without trial and without the attackers having filed a complaint constitutes in itself a serious element of concern regarding the course of the trial and the quality of the rule of law in Hungary. Incredibly, you risk eight years in prison for personal injury and another eight for belonging to an international anti-fascist organisation, but since these are two cumulative crimes, for each crime fifty percent of the expected sentence must be added, for a total of twenty-four years overall. Twenty-four years in prison for assault and injury!

The government

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also spoke on the case on Immediately afterwards, the deputy prime minister instructed the secretary general of the Farnesina, Riccardo Guariglia, to summon the Hungarian ambassador to Rome for a protest against the conditions of detention of the Italian citizen Ilaria Salis. At the same time, tomorrow the Italian ambassador to Hungary will make a request to the Hungarian authorities.

Today's images have shaken the executive led by Giorga Meloni. «It's a very harsh photograph», said Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, «We met the father, of course the Hungarian judiciary is sovereign. We can take action, as we are taking action, through diplomatic channels, doing everything possible to mitigate the rigorous conditions in which she is detained."

(Unioneonline/vf)

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