Born in Milan in 1984, Ilaria Salis is a teacher and left-wing activist long involved in anti-fascist initiatives and campaigns for prisoners’ and refugees’ rights.
In 2023 she was arrested in Budapest, accused of attacking far-right demonstrators during the nationalist “Day of Honour.” Charged with involvement in an “extreme-left criminal organization” and serious bodily harm, she spent over a year in harsh detention conditions she described as “inhuman and degrading.” Images of Salis in handcuffs and leg chains sparked outrage in Italy and across Europe.
Salis was elected to the European Parliament in June 2024 with Italy’s Greens and Left Alliance (AVS), gaining parliamentary immunity and release from house arrest. She sits with The Left (GUE/NGL) on committees covering civil liberties, justice and human rights.
Strasbourg vote: immunity kept by a single ballot
On Tuesday in Strasbourg, MEPs voted 306–305 to maintain Salis’s immunity, rejecting Hungarian prosecutors’ request. In the same session, Parliament also shielded Hungarian opposition figure Péter Magyar, turning down three separate requests tied to alleged phone theft and defamation complaints. The secret ballots reflected rising concern among EU lawmakers over judicial independence in Hungary and marked a rare refusal to cooperate with a member state’s prosecution bids.
Reactions underscored the split: Green MEP David Cormand said the result showed Parliament “refusing to yield to pressure from Viktor Orbán’s government,” while ECR co-chair Nicola Procaccini called it an intrusion of the legislature into the judicial sphere. Hungary’s spokesman Zoltán Kovács said “her place is in prison, not in Parliament,” describing Salis as a “violent Antifa activist.”
Salis’s stance and next steps
Salis hailed the result as “a victory for democracy, the rule of law and anti-fascism.” She reiterated her call to be tried in Italy, stressing that even with immunity, proceedings can continue in national courts, and urged Rome to act, noting there had been “no updates so far.”
The razor-thin margin lays bare deep divisions in Parliament and will likely fuel Budapest’s narrative that Brussels protects allies while meddling in Hungary’s affairs. More broadly, the case has become a touchstone in Europe’s struggle over the rule of law, with the line between justice and political pressure increasingly contested.
Source: Euractiv