Ilaria Salis candidate for the European elections: “If elected she should be released immediately”

Ilaria Salis candidate for the European elections: “If elected she must be released immediately”

“Ilaria Salis, if elected, will have to be released from prison. Hungary will not be able to prevent it.” Professor Marina Castellaneta, professor of international law at the University of Bari, explains this in an interview with La Repubblica. According to the European legislation expert, the candidacy of the 39-year-old from Monza, detained for 13 months in Hungary, will not be enough for her release . The picture for Salis would change if the candidacy, made official yesterday by the Greens/Italian Left Alliance, was successful.

“It is important to remember the Vies case and the ruling of the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 19 December 2019: the Eurojudges clarified, with respect to a person, proclaimed elected to the European Parliament while he was subjected to a precautionary detention measure , that the state cannot prevent the elected MP from participating in the session of the European Parliament precisely because he benefits from immunity,” said Castellaneta.

Under current arrangements, a candidate elected to the European Parliament would immediately benefit from immunity. Therefore, if Budapest intended to maintain the detention, it would have to send a request to Strasbourg to have the immunity revoked, opening a dispute between the European Parliament and Hungary.

It would not be the first case of a parliamentarian being elected as a prisoner. In 1984 Enzo Tortora was released after winning a seat in the European Parliament with 414,514 preferences. In 2019, however, the Catalan independent activist Oriol Junqueras was not allowed to travel to Strasbourg due to his failure to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the elected MEPs. An expected requirement of Spanish law but not of Italian law. According to the Court of Justice of the EU, Spain should have released him because he enjoyed parliamentary immunity.