Representatives of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party told a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday that Budapest has requested that the parliamentary immunity of Italian MEP Ilaria Salis be revoked.
Salis was released from house arrest in Hungary, where she was on trial for allegedly involvement in an assault on far-right demonstrators in February 2023, after being elected as a new member of the European Parliament for the Italian Green and Left Alliance in June.
Her allegedly inhumane detention conditions during a 16-month spell in a Hungarian jail had provoked protests from Italy.
During her trial she was also led into court on a chain with her ankles and wrists cuffed, a procedure Hungary says is standard, but which caused widespread shock and indignation here.
"As I have repeatedly stated, I hope that the Parliament chooses to defend the rule of law and human rights without yielding to the arrogance of an "illiberal democracy" with autocratic tendencies, which, through the words of its own leaders, has already declared me guilty on multiple occasions before any verdict.," Salis wrote in response to the request for her parliamentary immunity to be revoked.
"What is at stake is not only my personal future, but also and above all, the future of what we want Europe to be, increasingly threatened by authoritarian political forces.
"The minimum conditions for a fair trial in Hungary are absent—not for me, not for Maja, and not for any political opponent, especially those who are antifascist.
We have already shown the power of solidarity.
"It is time to mobilize once again, in the name of antifascism, democracy, and true justice".
Reacting to that statement via X, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs accused Salis of "acting like you are some sort of victim" saying it was "not only baffling but also utterly disgusting.
"Let me make it clear again: you weren't arrested for your "political views", you were arrested and put on trial for instances of armed assault on innocent Hungarian citizens," Kovacs continued.
"This whole charade is a joke, you are no democrat, and you are no martyr. You are a common thug".
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