Ilaria Salis’ detention in Hungary could last at least a year. While her candidacy on the Democratic Party lists may not be enough to get her out of prison. While under Hungarian law, home detention is worth a fifth of that in prison. And therefore, absurdly, if you are sentenced to 10 years you might have to spend 50 under house arrest, you write today Republic. And while her father Roberto announces that he wants to turn to the Quirinale, the teacher’s defense is considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. But it takes a very long time. While the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio says he is close to Ilaria’s father but also recalls that «the jurisdiction of a country is sovereign. And controversy doesn’t help.”
The specter of condemnation
Maurizio Molinari’s newspaper reports that the Ministry of Justice decided not to ultimately deposit the document in which it offered logistical guarantees on house arrest in Italy. Perhaps they would have been enough for judge Jozsef Sòs to prevent him from deciding no to detention at home because Salis is “dangerous given her criminal record in Italy and the risk of flight”. According to the Farnesina, the Salis case could be resolved by the end of 2024. The professor from Monza will be condemned because “there are very clear videos” that show her responsibilities. At that point, once the sentence arrives, the government would aim to expel her and have her serve it in Italy. But it will take time. And this means that Salis should remain at least another year in Budapest prisons.
House arrest in Hungary and the appeal to the ECHR
Repubblica also says that in the Hungarian system, home detention is expected to be worth a fifth of that in prison. And therefore, the reasoning goes, if Salis were sentenced to 10 years in prison then she would have to spend 50 under house arrest. But these are hypotheses formulated absurdly. The defense will appeal the judge’s decision to deny her house arrest. But above all, the lawyers prepare an appeal to the ECHR. However, it should take a very long time to complete. The same path was suggested to the executive yesterday by some members of the Democratic Party. “Italy cannot accept that one of its fellow citizens is abandoned to treatment like that reserved for Ilaria and cannot accept that the most absolute arbitrariness decides on her life”, Sandra Zampa said yesterday.
The candidacy
On the candidacy for the European elections instead The print today he explains that even a possible election would not lead to his automatic release. The newspaper recalls the cases of Toni Negri and Enzo Tortora. The journalist was under house arrest when he was nominated for Strasbourg by the Radical Party. With the election of 14 June 1984 he obtained the release decree. At that point the Naples prosecutor’s office asked the European Parliament for authorization for the trial and arrest. And Strasbourg denied it. Negri instead was a candidate for the national parliament. And as soon as he won the election he took advantage of his parliamentary immunity to escape to France. Without ever setting foot in the Chamber.
The Junqueras case
For Salis at this moment the road would be downhill even for a (hypothetical) candidacy for the Italian parliament, given that he is awaiting trial and therefore the Severino law does not affect him. Only a definitive conviction with an accessory penalty of loss of civil rights would invalidate the requirements for candidacy, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office. But there are not encouraging precedents at European level. Oriol Junqueras Vies, former vice-president of the autonomous government of Catalonia, arrested in Spain after the 2017 secessionist referendum, was elected in Europe in 2019. But the Spanish Supreme Court denied him permission to leave prison to take possession of the seat. In recent years Junqueras has made three appeals to European justice. But all are still pending and his seat remained vacant for the entire duration of the legislature.
