Salis may appeal to European human rights court - lawyers

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 31 - Lawyers acting for Ilaria Salis, the 39-year-old elementary school teacher and anti-Fascist activist on trial in Hungary for allegedly attacking two Hungarian neo-Nazis almost a year ago, said Wednesday they are considering appealing to the European Court of Human Rights over the alleged violation by Hungary of article three of the European convention on human rights protecting individuals against inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
    "We are assessing the possibility of making an immediate appeal to the European Court in Strasbourg for the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, for which Hungary has already been condemned on other occasions," lawyer Eugenio Losco, one of the Italian lawyers assisting Salis, told ANSA.
    "The violation is blatant, given how she was led into the courtroom on a chain," continued the lawyer, referring to the images published Monday of Salis during a court hearing in Budapest that caused a public outcry in Italy.
    "Meanwhile, we are trying to understand what the government's stated commitment to reach the goal of house arrest consists of," concluded Losco.
    On Tuesday the government of Premier Giorgia Meloni through the foreign ministry called on Hungary to consider alternatives to prison detention for Salis, including house arrest.
    Meloni is also reported to have spoken to her Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban about the case by telephone on Tuesday evening.
    Salis' parents are in Budapest, where on Wednesday they will first visit their daughter in prison before meeting with the Italian ambassador to Hungary, Manuel Jacoangeli.
    Meanwhile, on Tuesday night a new work by street artist Laika dedicated to Salis appeared near the Hungarian embassy in Rome (see photo).
    The mural depicts the activist breaking her chains. (ANSA).