It is not known from present that Italian political life is as colorful as unpredictable. Nevertheless, the case of Ilaria Salis is highly amazing even for Italian standards. Although elections to the European Parliament were won by the ruling Fratelli d’Italia organization (Italian brothers), however, the media's biggest focus was on Ilaria Salis, who, within a fewer weeks of being imprisoned in Hungarian detention, became a Euro MP.
From the Polish point of view, it is hard to realize how it happened that a female accused of participating in a criminal organization and massacred political opponents was democratically elected to represent Italy internationally. So it is worth tracing the full communicative from the beginning, both in terms of the character itself and in terms of its reception on the Apenin Peninsula. Let's start with the fact that according to the characteristics most frequently presented by the Italian media, Ilaria Salis is simply a "39-year-old (now 40-year-old car) teacher" and "anti-fascist activist" who was arrested in Budapest on 11 February 2023 for "the alleged assault" on "neonazists", or members of the Hungarian right. However, this presentation of the case contains many understatements.
Who is Ilaria Salis
Before discussing the charges against Salis, let us first clarify who we are dealing with. Contrary to what the media and the media usually represent it, it does not prosecute a permanent profession as a teacher, but only occasionally work as a substitute, conducting literature lessons. Apart from this temporary activity, it is hard to identify a real origin of livelihood, as the information available does not propose that she execute any another occupation. This is followed by the image of a individual who is, in effect, an anti-fascist, engaged in “social” activities within left-wing organizations. Already as an 18-year-old she was among the founders of the far-left "collective" Bocaccio in Monza. This group became public in 2017, erstwhile any of its members during the collegiate retreat destroyed the promotion stand of Lega Nord party. Salis was besides among the detainees, but was yet released as she was not proven to be active in the attack.
Two of them, dated 2014 and 2019, concern the illegal business of municipal premises by the anarchist Corvetto collective (to which Salis belonged), The 3rd conviction was to put active opposition to a public officer at the time of clashes with the police in 2014 during an action to remove anarchists from that premises. On the another hand, the 2015 judgement afraid the throwing of firecrackers into the Milan prison area of San Vittore in the same year. Furthermore, according to the findings made by the media, Salis did not end up on this adventure of illegal business of the premises, as she was thrown out of the next cleavage in 2022, so it is possible that the list of sentences will extend.
What happened in Budapest
In February 2023, Ilaria Salis went to Hungary – officially to participate in the countermanifest of the celebration of the "Day of Honor" held by the Hungarian right hand on 11 February. This event besides attracted many European anti-fascists to Budapest, and on 9 and 10 February a series of 5 assaults on people who, according to the aggressors' assessment, looked like members of the right. As a result, 9 people were injured, of which six were severely injured. 3 Polish citizens aged 27-31 who went to Budapest for tourist purposes were besides attacked. In connection with the attacks, the Hungarian police arrested 3 people on 11 February: Ilaria Salis and 2 German citizens: Tobias Edelhoff and Anna Christina Mehwald. Shortly after their arrest, law enforcement officials announced that they were besides looking for 14 another people associated with the attacks, including six suspected perpetrators of beatings who were identified.
The Italian anti-fascist went to jail where she expected her first trial. The case gained publicity erstwhile in October, after receiving a letter from Ilaria, her father Roberto began to complain of allegedly inhumane treatment of his daughter. A fewer months later, media attention was drawn to the fact that for the first trial, on 29 January 2024, she was handcuffed on her hands and legs, resulting in a loud outrage of Italian public opinion so inhumanely treating a woman. Since then, for a large part of Italy, it has become a victim of Viktor Orban's oppressive regime, and the media have been more curious in discussing what the Italian government should do and how to bring Salis back to his homeland than in detailed process coverage.
Meanwhile, the trial deserved peculiar attention. According to the indictment, Salis and her companions came to Hungary specifically to carry out a raid on the right, which seems to indicate that a telescopic baton was found at the time of her arrest, which she tried to hide in a taxi that she and her companions traveled to. Although the suspect claims to have worn it for individual protection, her version contradicts the findings of the investigators.
The investigation showed that a band composed of Salis, Edelhoff and respective another people had meticulously planned and then conducted ambushes on persons who in their opinion were members of the right. Originally, she was accused of 4 assaults against Salis, but was yet charged with 2 beatings: the alleged “neonazist” in Gazdagréti Square and the right-wing music of László Dudog and his partner on Bank Street, for which the prosecution demanded 11 years imprisonment. According to the victim's findings, they were tracked and then abruptly attacked by backstrokes. According to a detailed diagram, the attack lasted about 30 seconds, after which the attackers were moving distant from the password thrown by the coordinator of the full action. The first of these ambushes, carried out during the day, was recorded by a surveillance camera. Her victim was a young man, an worker of a tobacco store whose only “guilty” was that he wore military-style trousers erstwhile going to work. The video shows a man being attacked by a group of people who knock him to the ground, kick him, beat him with telescopic batons, and spray him with pepper spray, then run off, leaving a bloody victim on the street. Beaten said he suffered head wounds, skull fractures, and ribs. In the second assault that Salis is accused of, the victim was László Dudog and his partner. The man suffered severe head injuries and, according to an interview given to Italian media, his face is partially inactive paralyzed, while the female besides suffered facial and stab wounds to her legs. They both say that after a year of beating, they have not yet returned to full fitness.
In both cases, the attackers were masked, but any details of their outfits and another surveillance footage showing how they were getting on the first victim's bus allowed to identify Salis as 1 of the participants in the beating. The recordings were besides analysed by an expert who, on the basis of his movements, considered with a probability of 90% that the video depicts the accused Italian woman.
As a result, Salis was accused of causing life-threatening injuries as part of a criminal organization, while 2 of her companions were accused of participating in a criminal organization. Salis and the German accused refused to testify, while Tobias Edelhoff pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment at first instance, which was remanded after appeal at second instance for 1 year and 10 months. In the case of Salis, 3 trials have been held so far, in January, March and late May. On the occasion of the first 2 defendants, the Hungarian court rejected the application for home arrest in Hungary or Italy, arguing that the hazard of escape was besides high. These decisions further upset the Italian left and a large part of the Italian public opinion as evidence of the alleged oppression and injustice of the Hungarian regime.
A wave of support in Italy
Meanwhile, in Italy, the left was being mobilised to defend the arrested anti-fascist. The media mostly underestimated the allegations against women, frequently defining injuries to victims (including, among another things, skull damage, bone ruptures and puncture wounds) as ‘light’, identifying victims as ‘neonazists’, and avoiding writing about circumstances of assault and detention. For this, they were happy to compose about alleged tragic conditions in a Hungarian prison, which included rats and cockroaches for purposes and deficiency of access to toilet paper and pads. Although these revelations have been denied by representatives of the Hungarian judiciary, who stressed that the Budapest prison facilities meet all European hygiene and wellness requirements of the inmates, the explanations did not interest the Italian media very much.
One of the most recognizable figures in this period became Ilaria's father, Roberto, who proclaimed that his daughter was a victim of a "political process", complained about her inhumane treatment and threw thunder at the government for being besides slow, in his opinion, to defend the rights of an Italian citizen. The press besides featured memories of her relatives and acquaintances who stressed the sensitivity of the anti-fascist, her engagement in social affairs, and her sensitivity to injustice.
As a result, looking at the portals of the largest Italian media in the first months of this year, it was hard to get to the details of the process, as the articles revealed a image of a delicate idealist, imprisoned without judgement by a oppressive government on the basis of frail accusations of causing insignificant injuries. Besides, the run to defend Salis was held not only in the media, but besides in the streets, as the left frequently and willingly organized demonstrations in its defence.
From Prison to Europarliament
From the autumn of last year until May, neither the force of Italian public opinion nor the Italian government's efforts to alleviate the treatment of Salis had the desired effect. The change of situation was only brought by the April decision of Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (Soyusz Zieloni and Lewica) to enter the arrested anti-fascist on her electoral lists in the upcoming elections to the Europarliament. Only after the female became officially a candidate, the Hungarian court agreed to apply home arrest. After deposit of EUR 40 000, Salis could decision to her father's rented flat in the centre of Budapest on May 24.
Although initially the thought of getting a recidivism candidate with convictions seemed mainly a way to get her out of jail, it turned out that both the organization and voters took him completely seriously.
In the face of Salis being given a mandate, the Hungarian judiciary was forced to release her from home arrest, and on 15 June she returned in company with her father to her household home in Monza close Milan. The Italian media did not neglect and this time, reporting with concern that the anti-fascist is “tired” and could not participate in an event organised by Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra due to her well-being.
So far, it seems that Salis has managed to escape the Hungarian justice system, hiding behind privileges guaranteed by the position of MEP. However, the case is not yet settled due to the fact that Hungary will be able to request the waiver of anti-fascist immunity in order to proceed the process. However, the curious individual herself seems to take her fresh function seriously and, in a video message that she published while inactive under home arrest, announced a circumstantial outline of her political agenda, saying that she would "fight" for the right to education, but besides "to argue the utmost right and its discriminatory policy." The second message sounds somewhat disturbing in the mouth of a individual who has proved that the "beating" of the "high right" in order to intimidate political opponents is not abroad to him. In this context, it is rather grotesque to conclude her declaration: "I would like it to be solidarity and not fear to be the lighthouse that leads Europe."
So while the situation may seem rather paradoxical from a Polish point of view, a large part of Italy sees nothing different in it. However, it should be noted that the Italian Left has a long tradition of dehumanising political opponents and rather openly supporting and whitening leftist criminals, which was peculiarly evident in the 1970s, called "years of lead", erstwhile the extraordinary indulgence towards leftist force led to many tragedies specified as the death of Serge Ramelle. Apparently, the slogan "killing a fascist is not a crime" that was raised by the Italian left on the footpaths of those days, for many people it has not become obsolete, and force against ideological opponents in Italy inactive has political capital.
photo: X
