Ilaria Salis is saved, the European Parliament committee votes against lifting her immunity: Orban's request is rejected by a vote.

Ilaria Salis is safe. The European Parliament's Juri Committee , responsible for legal affairs, voted against lifting the immunity of the Italian MEP from the Green-Left Alliance.

There were 13 votes against, and 12 in favor . Two elected members of the People's Party (PP ) were decisive in voting against the revocation of immunity, splitting the center-right group. The coalitions were known beforehand: the Socialists, Left, Greens, and Liberals had 11 of the 25 members available; far-right groups like Patriots, Sovereignists, and Conservatives had seven members, while the People's Party (PP) represented another seven. Therefore, the two People's Party members who chose to support Salis were decisive in the final result.

A decision that has sparked anger in Italy from the League and Brothers of Italy , with the Northern League calling it "a Euroshame brought on by the left and traitors from the center-right. EPP MEPs will have to explain to their voters why they voted for a miserably political vote." Carlo Fidanza , head of the Brothers of Italy delegation in the European Parliament, was also harsh: "The EPP should seize the opportunity to make amends in the plenary vote in October."

This is the first assessment for the Italian MEP, with the ball now in the European Parliament's court , which will meet in plenary session on October 7 to decide Salis's fate. The committee's opinion is non-binding; MEPs will therefore be able to vote as they see fit in the plenary session, but it's clear that what happened in the Juri committee is an indication of what may happen in Parliament.

Ilaria Salis, an anti-fascist activist, was arrested on February 11, 2023 in Hungary , on the sidelines of a demonstration organized to oppose the " Day of Honour ", which every year attracts thousands of Nazi nostalgics from all over Europe to the capital Budapest: the charge was that of having attacked some far-right demonstrators.

From that day on, she spent 15 months in pre-trial detention in prison, in inhumane and degrading conditions : her case exploded with the publication of her diary and then, even more, with the images of the activist brought to court in chains.

To prevent what was clearly a politically motivated trial, in a country like Hungary where Viktor Orban's autocratic government has practically total control over the judiciary, in June 2024 the Green-Left Alliance decided to nominate Salis for the European elections to free her from prison: a result that was successfully achieved, with the MEP elected to Strasbourg with 176,000 votes in the North-West constituency.

From Hungary, however, Orbán's government has never let up. On October 10, Hungarian authorities submitted a request to the European Parliament to lift his immunity. In December, the request was entrusted to the Juri Committee, which appointed Spanish MP Adrian Vázquez Lázara , a member of the People's Party, as rapporteur. According to the rapporteur, who had requested the lifting of Salis' immunity in his document, "this vote sets a dangerous and bad precedent. Salis's judicial position is weaker than before. I predict that Hungary will appeal to the European Court of Justice, and that his immunity will ultimately be lifted by the EU court in Luxembourg."

Just today, Ilaria Salis spoke again about her personal case in an interview with Corriere della Sera. "I don't want to avoid the trial. In fact, I want to be tried. But not in Hungary, where it would be a political trial, where the sentence is already written. I want to be tried in my country . In Italy. I have faith in the judiciary. I have faith in the Italian judiciary," she said.

"My intention," the AVS MEP emphasized, "was never to avoid trial. I demand, like everyone else, the right to a fair and just trial, with all the necessary democratic guarantees. In Hungary, this is clearly not possible. This is why defending my immunity is essential today." Salis recalled that "in recent days, the Hungarian government spokesperson even sent me the details of the prison where they plan to detain me, while Orban himself described me as a terrorist. Revoking my immunity would mean exposing me to a persecution already underway. My conviction was effectively sanctioned in advance by the political authorities, in a country where the judiciary is not independent and where I would be subjected, in retaliation, to inhumane prison conditions."