As we reported previously the case of Ilaria Salis, the Italian radical left-wing activist charged with assault causing life-threatening bodily harm carried out in a criminal organization last February in Budapest, has generated extensive press coverage and political attention in Europe, particularly in Italy. Hungarian Conservative has also commented on the disingenuous presentation of facts by the Italian and European political left and mainstream media describing Salis as a victim. Most reports in the mainstream press present the Italian woman as kept incarcerated in horrendous circumstances, some adding by the Hungarian ‘authoritarian regime’.
In a welcome turn of events, Italian public service television Rai 1 has decided to interview Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, to finally allow the other side of the story to be articulated directly to the Italian public.
In the interview aired last night on the channel’s evening news programme, Minister Szijjártó stated that
he is appalled by the way the Italian media has covered the case,
portraying Salis as a ‘martyr’, while failing to report truthfully on the real victims, the people Salis and the other members of the Antifa gang brutally beat in Budapest last year. The minister declared that he hoped Salis would get ‘the deserved punishment’.
Responding to a question about there being doubts about the rule of law being upheld in Hungary, the minister said the Orbán government is being constantly criticized and unfoundedly accused of rule of law issues by Brussels because it is ‘a conservative and patriotic government.’
When asked whether it was possible that Salis would be released from prison and placed in house arrest, Szijjártó responded that would depend on the decision of the court that handles the case. The foreign minister pointed out that the interference from the Italian government in the case was ‘surprising’ is not acceptable.
Minister Szijjártó was also asked about the Hungarian government’s position on the Navalny case. The minister replied that the Hungarian administration does not have an opinion on the matter for now, as ‘nothing precise is known’ as there has been no thorough investigation into what happened.
On the same day the interview was released, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Minister Szijjártó met in Rome to discuss a number of European issues. As reported by Italian news agency ANSA, speaking to the press after the meeting, Tajani denied his government had interfered in the case. He highlighted that said his government would continue to push to make sure Salis’s detention conditions were adequate, ‘without any desire to interfere, but with the clear intention of exerting pressure to verify that the conditions of detention respect European norms that uphold the safeguarding of human rights’.
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