Ilaria Salis case, the Hungarian court denies house arrest

Ilaria Salis remains in prison. The Hungarian court has rejected the request for house arrest which was presented by the defense of the Italian teacher, detained for 13 months in Budapest on charges of having attacked three far-right militants: according to the judge, the woman is still “dangerous”, “serious accusations” weigh on her and “thirteen months in prison is not exaggerated.”

The thirty-nine-year-old's father, Roberto Salis, believes the decision to reject house arrest is “yet another test of strength from the Orban government”. «I was kind of expecting it: Ilaria is considered a great danger here. I don't think that in Hungary there can be any different treatment than what we have seen and I think this is absolutely unacceptable for Italy. He will remain in prison who knows how much longer, can Italy accept this treatment? Absolutely not”.

According to the Hungarian judge, the gravity of the accusation is the yardstick for deciding on precautionary detention. The next hearing has been set for May 24.

What is she accused of?

Ilaria Salis is accused of having participated in the clashes during the march and that he attacked three demonstrators. She was initially accused of two other crimes, but it was proven that she had not yet arrived in Hungary when they were committed. According to the prosecution, the 39-year-old Italian is a member of a group of people with covered faces, shown in a video, hitting two far-right activists with truncheons. She was not arrested red-handed, but stopped a few hours later when she was in a taxi. She was with two other people. She is charged with the aggravating circumstance of having acted as part of a German criminal association, theHammerband.

The woman's lawyers said they had not had access to the camera recordings, fundamental evidence for the prosecution, and that they had had the trial documents translated into Italian and English, with which Salis could have exactly understood the accusations. Those affected would not have filed a complaint and their wounds would have healed in a few days. However, the accusation speaks of potentially lethal injuries.

Gabriele Marchesi is free again

Meanwhile, Gabriele Marchesi, co-investigator of Ilaria Salis, who had been under house arrest since the end of November, has been released again: the Milan Court of Appeal rejected the extradition request of Hungary for the 23-year-old, who had been arrested on the basis of a European arrest warrant.