Ilaria Salis, a 39-year-old Italian
antifascist on trial in Budapest for alleged involvement in an
attack on two neo-Nazis last year, should not be depicted as a
hero, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's spokesman said on
Friday.
"Ilaria Salis is not a hero," spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said in a
post on X featuring a video in which he talks about the case.
"She and her 'comrades' came to Hungary and committed barbaric,
premeditated assaults on Hungarian citizens—these are the facts.
"Anything beyond this is a mere political fabrication, and we
will defend the reputation and integrity of our judiciary, no
matter how loudly the left cries wolf".
Salis, an elementary school teacher from Monza near Milan, has
been repeatedly led into court on a chain with her hands and
ankles cuffed in Budapest, causing an outcry in Italy.
A Budapest court last week rejected a plea to have her moved to
house arrest in the Hungarian capital, as a hopeful prelude to
being moved to house arrest in Italy.
Salis is on trial for attempted murder for allegedly being part
of a German-led hammer gang that targeted neo-Nazis on the
latters' annual celebration of a Nazi WWII regiment in February
last year.
Kovacs also took aim at Salis's father Roberto, saying he has
"repeatedly made serious groundless accusations" and has
"transformed his daughter's case into a political issue".
Roberto Salis told ANSA this week that the Hungarian authorities
have already decided his daughter is guilty.
"The trial has already taken place, the verdict has been issued,
I can't understand why they're going ahead with the hearings",
he said on Tuesday after Kovacs said all requests from Italy on
her detention would be in vain.
"When there is a politician who scolds a private citizen of
another State it's clear that there's something incredible," he
added speaking of a "marked tendency towards tyranny" on the
part of Hungary.
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