Ilaria Salis

Ilaria Salis (born 17 June 1984) is an Italian teacher, anti-fascist, and politician. In February 2023, she was arrested in Hungary and charged with assault and attempted murder following an attack on a neo-Nazi demonstration. Her detention and trial attracted significant controversy in Italy,^{[1] [2]} and in the 2024 European Parliament election, she was elected as an Italian MEP with the Greens and Left Alliance.

Salis was born in Milan on 17 June 1984 and grew up in Monza, except for a three-year interlude from 1992 to 1995 when the family lived in the United Kingdom. She graduated from Liceo Classico "B. Zucchi" in 2002 with top marks. Since childhood, she has always practised sport and, passionate about theatre, she attended various courses and acted in Monza. From high school she began her political activity in social centres, first in Monza and then in Milan, fighting for respect for rights and social equality. She graduated in Historical Sciences with honours in December 2005 from the State University of Milan. Sensitive to the problems of the disadvantaged, she attended the Professional Educator course at the ‘Don Gnocchi’ institute in Milan, successfully following all the courses. She worked as an educator for a few years in centres for problematic adolescents. In 2018 she decided to complete the studies required for teaching literary subjects in high schools and in April 2021 she obtained a Master's Degree in Philology, Literature and History of Antiquity at the University of Milan. In the meantime, she has worked for several years as an elementary school teacher in schools with multi-ethnic students and since 2021 as a substitute teacher of Literature in high schools, awaiting a competition.^[3]

On 11 February 2023, Salis was arrested in Hungary, after a counter-demonstration against a neo-Nazi demonstration commemorating a Nazi regiment that fought against Soviet troops during the Siege of Budapest in World War II. She was charged with assault and attempted murder. "Prosecutors allege that Salis travelled to Budapest specifically to carry out attacks against "unsuspecting victims identified as, or perceived as, far-right sympathisers" to deter "representatives of the far-right movement and the indictement seeks a sentence of 11 years incarceration.^{[4] [5] [6]}

Her detention attracted significant controversy, particularly in Italy, after she appeared at her trial "chained like an animal".^[7] On 19 December 2023, seven Italian MEPs with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats accused the Hungarian government of holding her "bound by the neck in a cell with mice and cockroaches" and argued that the "injuries of the two assaulted individuals who reported her were only minor."^[8] Her father claimed that she was "locked in a cell 23 hours a day with one hour of air time and 70 minutes of communication per week."^[9]

The Italian government strongly protested about her detention conditions. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó criticised the Italian government's interference as unacceptable.^[10] Spokesperson of the Government of Hungary Zoltán Kovács accused the media of an "orchestrated, leftist attack aimed at destroying good Hungary-Italy political relations."^[11]

After 466 days in prison, on 23 May, she was transferred to house arrest in Budapest.

On 28 of June, it was revealed that she owes 90 000 Euros to a house owner, whose mansion she occupied since 2008, but has not payed any rent.^{[12] [13] [14] [15] [16]}

On 18 April 2024, the Italian Greens and Left Alliance announced Salis's candidature for the upcoming 2024 European Parliament election in Italy of 8–9 June in North-West Italy, where she obtained more than 176 000 votes, thus being officially elected to the European Parliament.^[17] As MEP, she gained legal immunity and was therefore released from detention, returning to Italy on 15 June, two days before her 40th birthday.^[18]

On 26 June 2024, she gave her first press conference as an MEP, pledging to focus on prison conditions, immigration, and youth issues during her term.^[19]

• Italian schoolteachers
• Prisoners and detainees of Hungary
• 1984 births
• Living people
• 21st-century women MEPs for Italy
• People charged with attempted murder
• Greens and Left Alliance MEPs
• Italian anti-fascists
• MEPs for Italy 2024–2029
• University of Milan alumni

• CS1 Italian-language sources (it)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Commons category link from Wikidata