Italian teacher Ilaria Salis was
again handcuffed at her wrists, with shackles on her ankles, and
led in on a chain like a leash by a police officer as she
entered a Budapest courtroom on Thursday, the same as happened
in a hearing on January 29. The 39-year-old from Milan has been
in prison in Hungary for 13 months in relation to accusations
she was involved in an attack on three far right militants. The
footage of the previous hearing caused an outcry in Italy and
Rome has protested about her detention conditions. Hungarian
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, meanwhile, has said he was
shocked by the Italian reactions to the case, saying Salis is
falsely being portrayed as a victim and martyr. The elementary
school teacher is facing up to 24 years in jail for the alleged
attack on the neo-Nazis at their annual commemoration of an
allegedly heroic Nazi regiment that fought off Russian troops. A
group made up of Salis's friends and lawyers said they were
threatened by far-right militants as they arrived at the court
on Thursday. "They were waiting for us and they insulted and
threatened us in Hungarian," said Eugenio Losco, one of the
lawyers. "They said shut up or we'll split open your head".
Salis's lawyers are trying to get her put under house arrest in
Hungary, which, if granted, would then enable Rome to request
her transfer to house arrest in Italy. The woman's father,
Roberto Salis, has said his daughter is the victim of a
political trial "My daughter's situation has become increasingly
a political trial as it has gone on," he told a press conference
this month at the European Parliament organized by Green-Left
Alliance MEP Massimiliano Smeriglio and Democratic Party (PD)
MEP Brando Benifei. "On February 28 last Hungarian Foreign
Minister Peter Szijjarto made a statement that described my
daughter as guilty, voicing he hope for exemplary punishment.
"All this in a country where there is the rule of law, and in an
EU member, is unacceptable."
Share
