Pulled with handcuffs attached to a belt from which a chain began that continued to her feet, with a guard holding her back with another iron chain;
and so she remained for three and a half hours.
More shock and horror for Ilaria Salis, the 39-year-old from Milan who has been detained in Hungary for almost a year.
Her story of her entry into the courthouse in Budapest today for the first hearing of the trial leaves one speechless.
"It was shocking, a crazy image. She had told us that she was always transferred in these conditions but seeing her really made an impression on us", Eugenio Losco, one of her lawyers present in the courtroom, told ANSA.
Then the anger of her father Roberto who blurts out: "My daughter is treated like an animal and the politicians, the government and the newspapers pretend not to see."
In the meantime, the woman will have to remain in cell for a long time, given that the first hearing ended and was immediately adjourned to May 24th.
She, accused of attacking two right-wing extremists in the Hungarian capital, has pleaded not guilty.
Different choice for another German co-defendant, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
An official from our embassy was also present in the courtroom and tomorrow the lawyers and his father Roberto will have a meeting with the Italian ambassador in Budapest.
"It's a very harsh photograph. We met the father, of course the Hungarian judiciary is sovereign. We can take action, as we are taking action, through diplomatic channels, doing everything possible to mitigate the rigorous conditions in which she is detained" he said the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio.
"This time it seems to me that it has gone too far": it is a "violation of community rules" and is not "in harmony with our
legal civilisation": the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, said this in an interview with Radio Me too.
According to Tajani, "lawyers must ask for house arrest in Italy", and he also said that the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, met with Ilaria's father, Roberto, and is following the case closely.
Salis in the courtroom in chains, tied hand and foot
Yesterday Tajani himself had already commented on the case on
This morning in court - where in addition to Salis, two other co-defendants were present, a German man and a woman - the prosecutor presented Ilaria as the main defendant, who allegedly participated in multiple attacks causing aggravated bodily harm, in "criminal association" with two people.
Shortly before, the magistrate had exposed the indictment which led to the indictment, according to which the accused were part of a left-wing extremist organisation, formed in Germany and composed mainly of young people who, in addition to taking part in rallies and demonstrations, they planned to fight with physical attacks against far-right sympathizers of neo-Nazi and neo-fascist ideology.
From politics there is disdain and anger: for the dem Piero Fassino the chains and shackles "violate every norm of civilization and international conventions on the respect due to detained persons".
Peppe De Cristofaro of Avs asks the government and Tajani to push to transfer the woman and allow her to be tried by Italy.
In the evening in Rome, a large sit-in in front of the Hungarian embassy to demand Ilaria's return to Italy.
"Now the Italian State can no longer continue to ignore a prison and procedural situation that violates our laws", said the lawyer Losco.
Also because "Ilaria declared herself not guilty but explained that she had never been able to read the documents, which were never translated to her, and that she had not yet seen the images on which the accusation is essentially based. And therefore she reported of not being able to present any brief, which is admitted in the Hungarian trial".
For this reason, he insisted, "Ilaria must be transferred to house arrest in Italy and the government must do something immediately because this situation must end immediately".
A possible glimmer of hope comes from the EU: Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders has made it known that "the Commission is always available to help in the framework of these bilateral contacts that have been made by Italy with Hungary".
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