Italian activist freed from Hungary returns home after being elected to European Parliament

ROME (AP) — Italian anti-fascist activist Ilaria Salis returned to her parents’ house in the northern Italian city of Monza on Saturday evening, after being freed from house arrest in Budapest the day before.

“A nightmare is over,” her father Roberto Salis told journalists waiting for her at her home.

“Now we must ensure that this accusation for which Ilaria believes she is innocent is dropped,” he added.

Ilaria Salis was released after being elected as a new member of the European Parliament for the Italian Green and Left Alliance earlier this month.

The 39-year-old activist was elected during her time under house arrest in Hungary, where she is on trial and faces charges for allegedly assaulting far-right demonstrators.

European Parliament lawmakers enjoy substantial legal immunity from prosecution, even if the allegations relate to crimes committed prior to their election.

More than 170,000 voters in Italy wrote Salis’ name onto the ballot in a bid to bring her home from Hungary, where she has been detained for more than a year.

Salis became a hot-button political issue in Italy after images emerged of her handcuffed and shackled in a Hungarian courtroom where she faced trial.

The Italian activist was charged in Hungary with attempted murder after being part of a group of anti-fascists accused of assaulting individuals they believed were linked to the far-right Day of Honor last year.

The event, held annually on Feb. 11, sees far-right activists mark the failed attempt by Nazi and allied Hungarian soldiers to break out of Budapest during the Red Army’s siege in 1945.

The alleged victims of the attack reportedly didn’t complain to police.

Before the European Parliament election earlier this month, Salis’ father repeatedly voiced concerns over his daughter’s trial, saying she faced up to 24 years in jail. The Hungarian prosecutor had asked for a prison term of 11 years.

Roberto Salis, the father of Italian activist Ilaria Salis, speaks to journalists as he arrives with her at their home in Monza, Italy, Saturday, June 15, 2024. Ilaria Salis returned to her parents’ house in the northern Italian city of Monza on Saturday evening, after being freed from house arrest in Budapest a day before. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)

Italian activist Ilaria Salis arrives with her father Roberto arrive at their home in Monza, Italy, Saturday, June 15, 2024. Salis returned to her parents’ house in the northern Italian city of Monza on Saturday evening, after being freed from house arrest in Budapest a day before. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)

Italian activist Ilaria Salis arrives with her father Roberto at their home in Monza, Italy, Saturday, June 15, 2024. Salis returned to her parents’ house in the northern Italian city of Monza on Saturday evening, after being freed from house arrest in Budapest a day before. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)

The president of Bolivia, who was the target of an attempted coup on Wednesday night, is a 60-year-old leftist whom many see as an opponent of Washington-backed free-market and neoliberal policies.

Luis Arce, who studied economics in London, was economy minister under President Evo Morales, whose time in office from 2006 to 2019 made him an icon of the Latin American left.

After Morales left office, Arce became president in November 2020, following Jeanine Añez's short time in office.

Bolivian television showed Arce confronting the apparent leader of the rebellion in the hallway of the government palace Wednesday night.

“I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination,” Arce said.

Arce's career has mirrored Bolivia's economic trajectory from boom to bust. He worked in the Central Bank from 1987 to 2006 and worked for Morales administering a bonanza in metals and hydrocarbons prices that came to be known as the “Bolivian Miracle.”

But by the time, Arce took office, Bolivia was hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and social tensions set off by Morales' 2019 departure after street protests and extreme pressure from the military.

FILE - Bolivian President Luis Arce attends an Indigenous ritual before delivering his annual state of the nation address at the presidential palace in La Paz, Bolivia, Jan. 22, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday, June 26, 2024, as a top government official warned of a coup attempt. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)