Hungary has held an Italian teacher in custody for one year, allegedly for assaulting two neo-Nazis during an antifascist demonstration

Footage from a Budapest courtroom showing Salis in chains has sparked outrage; she denies the charges. “It seems to me that this time it has crossed all lines,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani commented on the footage.

Tajani said the Italian Foreign Ministry has summoned the Hungarian ambassador over the situation. According to him, the woman’s attorneys have to ask that she be remanded to house arrest, which the ministry will propose to the ambassador.

The Italian Justice Ministry is also following the case. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, who has met with the family of the imprisoned woman, said the Hungarian justice system will be making the decision.

Relatives of Salis have complained about the conditions of her imprisonment. According to them there are bedbugs in the cells, the environment is not hygienic, and her diet is also not good.

Tajani said the Italian Embassy in Budapest will file a protest over the substandard conditions. The 39-year-old teacher from Monza in northern Italy is sometimes labeled an “anarchist” by the media and has been in custody in Hungary since February 2023.

Salis is charged with abetting an assault on two neo-Nazis during an antifascist demonstration against an assembly of neo-Nazis from Hungary and other countries, Corriere della Sera reports. She faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted.

Other antifascist activists have faced similar charges. The Italian opposition is criticizing the Government for ignoring the case of Salis for a long time because Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has good relations with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Salis’s father has also complained that the Italian Embassy in Budapest has taken no action in her case.