Antifa MEP Begs To Keep Immunity Ahead of Hungary Trial Vote

Parliamentary immunity was never intended to protect members from prosecution for the crimes of violence of which Salis is accused!

From The European Conservative

By Ildikó Bíró, PhD

Italian leftist Ilaria Salis could face up to 11 years in prison for her alleged role in violent attacks in Budapest.

An Italian far-left activist-turned-MEP is pleading to avoid extradition to Hungary, where she faces up to 11 years in prison for her alleged role in brutal Antifa-linked street attacks.

In a video posted the other day to all her social media channels, Antifa ‘Hammer Girl’ Ilaria Salis pleads with her fellow MEPs not to revoke her parliamentary immunity, otherwise she will be a prisoner in “Viktor Orbán’s regime.”

The 41-year-old ‘antifascist’ ex-teacher and former squatter who owes €90,000 to a Milan-based housing company in unpaid rent, and who is accused of having mercilessly beaten innocent people (in left-liberal press parlance, “neo-Nazis”) senseless in Budapest, Hungary in February 2023, is now obviously desperate, trying to avoid at all cost being held accountable for what she did—or didn’t do, since, like all, she deserves the presumption of innocence. 

Salis was arrested and imprisoned in Hungary last year, accused of participating in a series of attacks organised by the Hammerbande (Hammer Gang), a violent German far-left group linked to Antifa. The members of the group surrounded and bludgeoned nine innocent people—whom the attackers decided “looked like” neo-Nazis based on their choice of clothing—with batons and hammers on the streets of Budapest.

Salis was charged with three counts of attempted assault and accused of being part of an extreme left-wing organisation. Her case was widely reported in European media, especially in Italy, with left-wing journalists focusing on her alleged “inhumane” treatment in prison, and not on the shocking crimes she allegedly committed.

In May 2024, she was released from prison and transferred to house arrest in Budapest, but after her election as an MEP, she gained legal immunity and was released.

On October 22, 2024, Hungary formally asked the European Parliament to lift her immunity. She faces an 11-year prison sentence in Hungary if convicted. After more than half a year, the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) and the Assembly will finally vote on whether to strip Salis of her immunity on June 24th.

Salis is clearly trying to avoid a potential decade-long prison sentence, but her arguments have drawn criticism. First of all, as ex-army officer, Italian firebrand politician Roberto Vannacci, currently serving as a Lega MEP, pointed out in a scathing video posted to his social media channels, parliamentary immunity is supposed to shield representatives from undue harassment and prosecution after their election, not from the consequences of crimes they are accused of having committed before becoming parliamentarians. 

Secondly, as Vannacci also highlighted, it is rather absurd that Salis is bemoaning the alleged democratic backsliding in Hungary under Viktor Orbán as she and her comrades clearly think that they can smash in anyone’s head if they disagree with them.

Commenters did not mince words either in their reactions to Salis’ pitiful performance, with many calling on the leftist politician to demonstrate some moral integrity and face the consequences of her actions.

Now, that is something we can hardly expect from her, but can we from the MEPs deciding about her fate? We’ll see on June 24th.

Pictured: Ilaria Salis, Green & Left (communist) MEP