A narrow majority in the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee has voted against lifting the parliamentary immunity of Italian left-wing MEP Ilaria Salis.
Salis is being investigated by the Hungarian justice system over her alleged part in a violent attack in the streets of Budapest.
She is accused of being part of the so-called “hammer gang”, a left-wing extremist group that has reportedly assaulted nine random civilians – based on what they said was their victims’ “Nazi-like” clothing – with hammers, batons and pepper spray, leaving victims comatose or severely injured.
Salis has denied the charges but has been consistently identified as an anti-fascist activist. She described what she called her persecution as stemming from her political beliefs.
Hungary had requested the European Parliament to lift her immunity in order to prosecute her but in a secret ballot, 13 MEPs voted against and 12 in favour. No MEPs abstained.
Still, the Hungarian request is set to go to the full 720-member assembly, with a vote on the matter in the first plenary that will take in October.
Salis was prosecuted by Hungary but was elected in the European Parliament in June 2024 as a member of Italy’s Greens and Left Alliance, part of the Left group in the EP, earning her parliamentary immunity.
“This is an important and positive signal,” Salis said on Facebook in reaction to the vote.
“I am fully confident that parliament will confirm this decision in the October plenary session, affirming the centrality of the rule of law and democratic guarantees.”
She claimed that defending her “immunity does not mean evading justice but protecting myself from political persecution by the [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán regime. That is why its protection is essential. The Italian authorities remain free to open proceedings against me, as I myself hope and strongly request.”
The co-chair of The Left group, Martin Schirdewan, published a note entitled, “Salis 1, Orban 0”.
“Our colleagues in the Committee on Legal Affairs have today taken a decision in line with the fundamental values of the European Union. Democracy and the rule of law are fundamental pillars of our European cohesion.
“It is important that these principles are respected in all member states, and Orbán must also understand this,” he said.
Adrián Vázquez Lázara, rapporteur of the request for waiver of immunity and member of the European People’s Party, said: “This vote represents a dangerous and ugly precedent: A political game is being played on the Salis case but going against the rules that provide that immunity covers crimes allegedly committed during the mandate, not before.
“I expect that Hungary will appeal to the European Court of Justice.”
“No surprise here”, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó noted. The Committee “chose to shield Antifa activist Salis Ilaria from justice, the perpetrator who in 2023 [allegedly] assaulted innocent people on the streets of Budapest,” he said.
“The message is clear: With an extremist ideological background, you can get away with anything. A disgrace to Europe.”
Hungarian government spokesperson, Zoltan Kovacs, called the vote “incomprehensible and outrageous,” accusing the Parliament of legitimising “far-left terrorism”.
“The anti-fascist Ilaria Salis and her comrades travelled to Hungary with the premeditated goal of randomly beating people on the street purely out of political conviction. This is not a political issue, but terrorism,” he alleged.
“Yet the Brussels comrades are doing everything to let her escape accountability. By upholding her immunity, they are not only excusing a [alleged] criminal but in fact harbouring an antifascist terrorist.”
The Italian MEP “is [allegedly] a dangerous criminal who belongs in prison”, he concluded.
An Italian far-left militant Antifa extremist currently in house arrest in Hungary on suspicion of attempted murder has been elected into the European Parliament and will walk free thanks to MEP immunity.
Ilaria Salis is suspected of having been part of the German “Hammer Gang”… pic.twitter.com/bmWyUarZo8
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 10, 2024
