Trial in Hungary

Imprisoned left-wing activist can now go to house arrest

Ilaria Salis is now allowed to move from a Hungarian cell to house arrest. The accused left-wing activist is not allowed to leave the country.(Bild: APA/AFP/Attila KISBENEDEK)

Ilaria Salis, an Italian woman who has been in custody in Hungary for 15 months, can celebrate a partial victory against the Hungarian justice system. The left-wing activist has been allowed to leave her cell and move to house arrest.

The lawyers of the 39-year-old primary school teacher from the northern Italian town of Monza had lodged an appeal against a judge's decision to refuse her house arrest in both Italy and Hungary on March 28. Salis must wear an ankle bracelet and pay bail of around 40,000 euros in order to be released. The teacher is a candidate for the Italian left-wing party "Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra" (Alliance Greens and Left/AVS) for the EU elections in a northern Italian constituency.

Fighting for the release of his daughter: Roberto Salis(Bild: APA/AFP/Ferenc ISZA)

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. Italy's Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni promised to stand up for his countrywoman. 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.

Italian woman allegedly belongs to notorious "hammer gang"
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 the Waffen SS and Hungarian soldiers at an action in February last year, together with others from the left-wing scene. According to the authorities, nine people were injured, six of them seriously. The teacher has pleaded not guilty.

A graffiti of Ilaria Salis and her chains on a house facade near the Hungarian embassy in Rome(Bild: AP)

German couple sentenced for attacks
Salis and a German couple are said to belong to the "Hammer Gang" group around the German left-wing extremist Lina E., who had attacked and injured suspected neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists in the past. Some of the German activists have already been sentenced for this.