Hungary has dragged the European Union into a row with Italy after Budapest demanded that the Brussels bloc strip Italian MEP Ilaria Salis of parliamentary immunity.
Ms Salis, a 40-year-old former teacher from near Milan, was arrested in Budapest in February 2023 after a counter-demonstration against a neo-Nazi rally.
She was accused of assaulting far-right demonstrators during the counter-demo.
She was charged with three counts of attempted assault and membership of an extreme leftwing organisation. She denied the charges.
The alleged attack on the neo-Nazis landed her 16 months in detention in Budapest. In June this year, Ms Salis won a seat in the EU parliament as a candidate with the Greens and Left Alliance, granting her immunity from charges. She was released and returned to Italy that same month.
The case has sparked a heated row between Hungary and Ms Salis’s home country, Italy.
In January this year, the MEP was hauled in front of court in Hungary in chains, her hands cuffed and feet locked together.
Images from this scene sparked diplomatic protests and outrage in Italy. Anger among Italians boiled over when Ms Salis detailed her treatment in detention. She told her lawyer that the cells were infested with rats and bugs, adding that she was not allowed to wash for days at a time or given urgent medical care.
Italian ministers summoned Hungary’s ambassador in outrage over Ms Salis’ conditions in prison.
On Tuesday, MEPs from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party returned to the issue by formally requesting the withdrawal of Ms Salis’s parliamentary immunity.
The Italian MEP has urged the EU not to cave into demands from an ‘illiberal democracy with autocratic tendencies’.
In response to the request, she wrote: “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.
“What is at stake is not only my personal future but also and above all, the future of what we want Europe to be.”
Ms Salis said it was “not a coincidence” that the request was made a day after she delivered a speech in front of Prime Minister Orbán, criticising the country’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.
During the speech, she said: “It is a bit of a paradox to have a presidency led by someone whose goal is to dismantle the EU in the name of nationalism.”
At the time, Mr Orbán hit back against Ms Salis, telling the European Parliament she “beat up peaceful people in the streets of Budapest with iron bars”.
Last night, Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács accused Salis of “acting like a victim”.
He added: “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.
“This whole charade is a joke; you are not a democrat, and you are not a martyr. You are a common thug.”
The Hungarian request has been forwarded to Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament. However, reaching the final vote in parliament could take up to four months.