CoE torture prevention cmte following Salis case - Ombudsman

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 7 - The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) is following the case of Ilaria Salis, the 39-year-old Monza elementary school teacher and antifascist militant facing up to 24 years in Budapest for allegedly attacking two neo Nazis last February, the National Ombudsman for the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty said on Wednesday.
    "The Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), following the formal dialogue initiated in recent days by the National Guarantor for the rights of persons deprived of liberty - with its Hungarian counterpart (the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights) and the competent bodies of the Council of Europe and the EU - on the treatment and conditions of detention in Hungary of our fellow citizen Ilaria Salis, has formally reassured the Italian Ombudsman" that it is following the case closely, the national authority said in a statement.
    Last Wednesday the National Ombudsman said it had begun a formal dialogue with its Hungarian counterpart after Salis was shown being dragged into a Budapest court on chains and wearing hand and ankle cuffs, in order to jointly monitor her conditions of deprivation of liberty and protect her fundamental rights.
    It said it had also informed the competent bodies of the Council of Europe and the European Union on the basis of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
    The images of Salis and simultaneous unconfirmed media reports of sub-standard detention conditions led to a public outcry in Italy, prompting Rome to protest to Budapest and Premier Giorgia Meloni to secure a promise from her friend and Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban that the militant would get a fair trial in good detention conditions, after Hungarian authorities denied reports of bed bugs, mice, filth and inhuman punishments.
    Salis' family and lawyers are asking for her to be released to house arrest in Hungary or Italy pending the conclusion of her trial. (ANSA).