Italian MEP Ilaria Salis quietly removed one of her parliamentary assistants in the wake of a police document check, carried out at her Rome hotel at the end of March.
The check, which officials said was not a search but a routine verification of identity documents, was triggered by a German alert through the Schengen Information System.
German magistrates created the international alert in early March, as part of an investigation into alleged close ties between Italian political circles and German antifa groups.
Some of the Antifa groups are accused of involvement in violent attacks.
This weekend’s search took place in a hotel near Stazione Termini, where Salis was staying ahead of a “No Kings” demonstration in Rome.
Sharing the room with her at the time was Ivan Bonnin, one of her accredited parliamentary assistants.
Salis later stated on television, after gossip arose of an intimate relationship between the two, that Bonnin was “not my boyfriend, but a dear friend and parliamentary collaborator who stayed in my room”.
Still, the action of the police focused renewed attention on the backgrounds of individuals employed in Salis’s parliamentary team, particularly several who have links to extreme left-wing militant circles.
Within days, Mattia Tombolini, who was listed as one of her local assistants, was removed from the official European Parliament roster of parliamentary staff.
The change was effective from the first of April, and was not publicly announced by Salis herself.
Tombolini, aged 34 and from the province of Rieti, works as an animator at the Roman social centre “Alexis”. This is also a well-known hub in left-wing activist networks.
He is founder and editorial director of Momo Edizioni, the publishing house that produced a Zerocalcare comic on the Salis case.
Its proceeds helped fund legal costs for hard-left activists, on trial in Hungary for a string of alleged violent attacks on people that appeared right-wing.
In July 2023, Tombolini received a first-instance conviction for defamation against a local Fratelli d’Italia official. This resulted in a four-month prison sentence.
His social media activity has included a black-and-white photograph showing five individuals armed with sticks beating a police officer on the ground.
When asked whether he liked the image, Tombolini replied that it “fascinates me in some way”.
He referenced the 1970s left-wing Banda Bellini group, which was known for targeting police and alleged fascists.
Salis’s second close aide, Ivan Bonnin, remains on the list of accredited parliamentary assistants.
Bonnin holds a PhD in European and International Studies and co-authored the book Vipera with Salis.
He was convicted in 2015 by a Bologna court for aggravated interruption of public service and private violence, during a student protest at the University of Bologna.
The six-month sentence was later converted into a €15,000 fine.
The episode has prompted politicians on the Right to question whether European Parliament rules on ethical standards, conflicts of interest, and recruitment of parliamentary assistants are being properly applied.
Members of Fratelli d’Italia have written to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola seeking clarification under Brussels protocols.
They cited their concerns over the use of public funds, and the presence of individuals with convictions linked to violent protest or militant activist environments.
Stefano Maullu, deputy group leader of Fratelli d’Italia in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, described an “evident red thread” connecting anarchist-insurrectionist milieux to Salis’s circle.
Maullu called for a “clear and credible distance” between European Parliament staff and contexts in which violence is tolerated or justified.
Salis herself faces an ongoing high-level investigation in Germany for an alleged involvement with so-called “Hammer Bands” — groups accused of carrying out serious violent assaults, often targeting individuals they perceive as hard-right.
Italian media have repeatedly linked these activities to broader antagonistic and anarchist networks. Salis has consistently presented her actions and associations as anti-fascist self-defence.
Attempts to lift her parliamentarian immunity in Brussels to face justice in Hungary have been blocked by the EP.
A Hungarian court has sentenced a German non-binary Antifa activist to eight years’ imprisonment for her role in a series of violent assaults in Budapest in February 2023. https://t.co/yruTUFkvxi
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) February 4, 2026
