Ilaria Salis | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of the European Parliament for North-West Italy | |
| Assumed office 16 July 2024 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 June 1984 Milan, Italy |
| Political party | Greens and Left Alliance |
| Alma mater | University of Milan |
| Occupation | Teacher |
Ilaria Salis (born 17 June 1984) is an Italian politician, activist, writer and teacher. She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2024 for the Green and Left Alliance.
Salis was born on 17 June 1984 and grew up in Monza, Italy. [1] She received a undergraduate degree in history at the University of Milan, graduating in December 2005. [1] After completing her undergraduate degree, she worked as a primary school teacher. [1] In 2021 she obtained a Master's degree in philology, literature and history of antiquity from the University of Milan. [1]
On 11 February 2023, Salis was arrested in Hungary, after alleged assaults on neo-Nazis at a far-right event in Budapest. [2] [3] She was charged with three counts of attempted assault and accused of being part of an extreme left-wing organization. [4] She denied the charges [4] and the alleged victims of the attacks reportedly did not file reports with police. [3]
Amid rising public outrage in her home country, the Italian government protested the shackling of Salis with chains around her hand and feet for her trial appearance. [4] [5] On 19 December 2023, seven Italian MEPs with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats accused the Hungarian government of holding her "bound by the neck in a cell with mice and cockroaches" and argued that the "injuries of the two assaulted individuals who reported her were only minor". [6] Salis wrote that she spent "23 hours out of 24 in a completely closed cell". [4]
In May 2024, she was released from prison and transferred to house arrest in Budapest. [4] [7]
In June 2024, Salis was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Green and Left Alliance, obtaining more than 170,000 votes. [8] [3] As a MEP, she gained legal immunity and was released from house arrest, finally returning to Italy. [3]
She plans to leverage her role to advocate for the rights of incarcerated individuals, address the housing shortage, and tackle the issue of excessive rental costs. [9]
In January 2024, Zerocalcare dedicated to Ilaria Salis his graphic novel At the bottom of the well. A story of Nazis, prison and responsibility, initially published in the weekly Internazionale, [10] followed by other update strips in the following issues. [11] [12] In the following June, Zerocalcare's comics on the Salis case were collected and published together with some unpublished ones in the volume This night will not be short. [13]
