The Ilaria Salis case is at the top of the agenda of next week's plenary session of the European Chamber in Strasbourg.
MEPs will debate the case of the Italian citizen detained in Hungary on Monday afternoon in the Chamber. "Without prejudice that as regards criminal law it is the competence of the member states, Hungary has signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, therefore the conditions of Ilaria Salis are a problem that also concerns the rule of law in Hungary", explained PD MEP Mercedes Bresso, during the pre-plea briefing of Italian MEPs.
For the Green MEP, Rosa D'Amato, "opening a debate on the status of prisoners in the EU is in itself a good thing, furthermore it is necessary to defend Ilaria as an Italian citizen regardless of the accusations".
However, Northern League member Paola Ghidoni spoke out against European interference in the issue, underlining how "it is not nice to see an Italian citizen in chains, but criminal matters remain the responsibility of the states and there cannot be EU interference".
The MEP of the 5 Star Movement, Mario Furore, has the opposite opinion, saying he was "disappointed by the response of the spokesperson of the EU Commission on the fact that individual legal cases are not commented on".
Furore then underlined that "Ilaria's is only the tip of the iceberg on violations of the rule of law in Hungary".
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