Ilaria "will remain in cell to the bitter end" in Hungary, perhaps until the end of the trial . After days of moderate optimism, for Roberto Salis , the father of the 39-year-old anti-fascist, the meetings in Rome with ministers Tajani and Nordio end with a load of disappointment that he had not imagined .
" We cannot interfere in the proceedings and in the suspect's status of freedom ", are the considerations of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice , therefore no explicit request will be made by the government for house arrest - as invoked by the lawyers of the Milanese teacher - nor in Italy, nor in the embassy in Budapest. Just as no note will be produced that provides guarantees on the application of precautionary measures in our country." " An exchange of letters between an Italian ministry and a foreign judicial body would be irregular and inadmissible ", explains Nordio . Three "no"s which, however, add to the pressure from government representatives on Salis's Hungarian lawyer to ask for house arrest in Hungary, "an indispensable condition for activating the 2009 EU framework decision" and therefore the possible execution of house arrest in Italy.
« It went much worse than we expected, we don't see any action that could improve my daughter's situation . We were left alone. What we asked for was denied. I believe that my daughter will remain in prison for a long time and we will still see her in chains at the trials", Roberto Salis bitterly blurted out together with the lawyer in front of the door of the Ministry of Justice in via Arenula, immediately after the meeting with the Keeper of the Seals .
Shortly before, Ilaria's father with the lawyer Eugenio Losco had already met "in a confidential manner" with the head of the Farnesina: a conversation defined as "private and cordial" by Tajani, who later added to the journalists: « What the 'Italy is well aware of the matter and there is nothing to add , we continue to work to ensure that community legislation regarding the rights of prisoners can be respected."
In the meantime, the same debate on the case was being discussed in the plenary session of the European Parliament with results that still hinted at glimmers of hope, at least in the words of the EU Commissioner for Financial Services, for whom «the measure of alternative detention, including that of house arrest, it would be in line with the conclusions of the EU Council", said Mairead McGuinness, underlining that "the Commission is available to help find a sustainable solution".
But at the end of the two meetings Roberto Salis drew up the threads of a disheartening day for him: « The Italian State does not intend to do anything, it will all depend on the Hungarian judge , and it believes that it does not want to provide the documents that we had requested to facilitate the work of the our lawyers, because they say it would be irregular and could create precedents. On the note that would have provided guarantees on the application of house arrest measures in Italy, they believe that it would be shown by the Italian State as an excusatio non petita. They tell me that there are 2,500 Italians in these situations and that - he continued - preferential action cannot be taken towards anyone. But if we leave everyone there, are we a state that defends its citizens? Let us remember that my daughter was tortured without toilet paper and without soap, and not even a note of protest came out from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It seems to me that there is a total disconnect in the functioning of the State, I don't see fluidity of information and this is to the detriment of people like my daughter."
There remain two alternatives, with longer times, before Ilaria's lawyers: starting again with a request for house arrest in Budapest for their client, in view of the applications of European regulations later - as proposed primarily by Nordio at the meeting - or evaluate the appeal to the Strasbourg court, as they had already announced.
«We will have to try to do something - explained the father - Now there will be indefinite prison until the Hungarian judge finishes the trial or there is another situation. But in that prison you can also die."
MELONI-SCHLEIN CLASH – The Ilaria Salis case reignites the clash between Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein, with a distant back and forth mediated only by the time zone, with the prime minister on a mission to Tokyo and the secretary of the Democratic Party in Strasbourg to take stock on the Europeans.
At the EP plenary, however, the debate on the case of the Italian woman detained in Hungary was also staged and Schlein took the opportunity for a frontal attack on the government. “They only dealt with it when the world saw chains and leashes, and it is embarrassing that Meloni welcomes Viktor Orban with open arms,” he says.
Her words did not escape Meloni who, from Japan, responded in kind: "I don't know what she means by serious delay but if she's better than us she'll definitely know what to do." «It must be the time difference but Meloni forgets that she is in government. The country is waiting for answers from her", is the counter response from Schlein, who in Strasbourg took part in a flash mob of the EU Socialists in favor of the Italian.
(Unioneonline/vl)
