Elected as an MEP on Sunday 9 June, Italian far-left activist Ilaria Salis, who has been deprived of her liberty in Hungary, is expected to invoke her parliamentary immunity and be released.
Under Article 9 of the Protocol on the “Privileges and Immunities of the European Parliament”, MEPs “enjoy in the territory of their State the immunities accorded to Members of Parliament” and “may not, in the territory of any other Member State, be detained or be the subject of legal proceedings”.
The Alliance of the Greens and the Left (AVS) won 6.7% of the vote in Italy and will send six MEPs to the European Parliament (+5), including Ms Salis, who received more than 160,000 votes.
The teacher was arrested in 2023, then imprisoned for a year for alleged violence against a far-right activist, before being placed under house arrest (see EUROPE 13395/25).
From 2019 to 2024, only one AVS MEP, Massimiliano Smeriglio (Italian), sat in the European Parliament as a non-attached member. The six AVS MEPs could now strengthen The Left group. A constituent assembly of the group, which was credited with 36 seats on Monday 10 June, is scheduled for 25 June. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)