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.
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