Hungarian judge: Salis trial annulled if European Parliament confirms immunity

Should the European Parliament definitively reject Hungary's request to suspend the immunity of Ilaria Salis, the trial against her would be annulled. This was announced today by the Hungarian judge, Jozsef Sos, during a hearing of the case in which the anti-fascist activists are accused of attacking a group of neo-Nazis during the 'Day of Honour' demonstrations in February 2023.

The Budapest court judge's statement on the annulment of the Salis trial was followed, a few hours later, by a clarification from the MEP's Italian lawyers, Eugenio Losco and Mauro Straini, according to which, in the event of the confirmation of immunity, 'the confirmation of immunity would determine the impossibility of continuing the trial currently in progress. The trial would therefore proceed only against the other German co-defendants. The position of Ms. Salis would be excluded. But this in no way means that the Hungarian court will no longer be able to proceed against her. The ongoing trial could in fact reach a verdict before the end of Ilaria Salis's term of office, but Losco and Straini explain that, 'once immunity has been waived, the prosecution will be able to issue a new subpoena to restart the trial'.

Ilaria Salis has won the first round of the game over her immunity and now the final vote, scheduled in the Strasbourg plenary for the first week of October, seems a little more downhill. On 23 September, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Chamber of Deputies voted against the Hungarian authorities' request to waive her parliamentary immunity, in a tight 13-12 vote that kept the Avs MEP on her toes until the last second.

Publicly supporting the Avs MEP were only the Left, Green, Socialist and Liberal MEPs, a total of 11 members out of the total 25 in the committee. Saving Salis in the secret vote would have been two 'little hands', which parliamentary sources suggest came from the Popular group. After the great fear on the eve of the vote and the memories of the months spent in Hungarian prisons, a breath of fresh air arrived for Salis.

Over the past few days, the MEP, through her lawyers, has relaunched the proposal to the government to move the trial to Italy, already anticipated on the eve of the vote: 'Minister Nordio asks for it, a political step is only necessary. Salis can have 'a fair trial'," wrote lawyers Eugenio Losco and Mauro Straini. A way for, Salis, to finally get rid of his 'persecutor' Orban.