Trial in Budapest

Imprisoned left-wing extremist runs in EU elections

Italian left-wing activist Ilaria Salis (right) in court in Budapest in March(Bild: APA/AFP/Attila KISBENEDEK)

Ilaria Salis, an Italian left-wing extremist imprisoned in Budapest, will stand as a candidate for the left-wing party Alleanza Verdi Sinistra (AVS) in the European elections in June. The primary school teacher is on trial in Hungary for allegedly violently attacking two neo-Nazis last year.

The 39-year-old woman is to stand as the AVS's top candidate in a northern Italian constituency, party leader Angelo Bonelli confirmed in a press release on Thursday evening.

Up to eleven years in prison
A trial against the northern Italian began in Budapest in January, during which she was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles. This caused a stir in Italy. The woman faces up to eleven years in prison. Her father had reported several times about the allegedly inhumane conditions under which his daughter was being held in a prison in Budapest.

The Italian teacher describes herself as an anti-fascist. She is accused of violently attacking a group of right-wing extremists who wanted to commemorate an action by the Waffen SS and Hungarian soldiers in 1945, together with others from the left-wing scene in February last year. According to the authorities, nine people were injured, six of them seriously.

"Gang of hammers"
Salis and a German couple are said to belong to the "Hammer Gang" group led by German left-wing extremist Lina E., which has set itself the goal of physically attacking suspected neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists and inflicting serious to life-threatening injuries on them.

The Italian government had intervened in Hungary to have Salis placed under house arrest. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has a good relationship with her Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban, emphasized that the candidacy of the Milanese woman for the EU elections, which will take place in Italy on 8 and 9 June, does not change the work of the government, which is trying to get Salis back home. "Politicizing the issue does not help," criticized Meloni.