The European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) recommended not lifting MEP Ilaria Salis’ immunity. After the vote, Salis said that defending her immunity did not mean avoiding justice, but rather showing that she was protected from political persecution by the Orbán so-called “regime.”
“I have full confidence that my colleagues in the European Parliament will confirm this decision at the next plenary session in October,” she said, according to Telex.
Salvini posted on X: “In the European Parliament, in the first vote in Committee the request to revoke Saris’ immunity was rejected (13 to 12). In October, the decisive vote in the plenary session in Strasbourg. He who errs, does not pay.”
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó posted: “No surprise here. @EP_Legal chose to shield Antifa activist @SalisIlaria from justice, the perpetrator who in 2023 assaulted innocent people on the streets of Budapest. The message is clear: with an extremist ideological background, you can get away with anything. A disgrace to Europe.”
The draft passed by only one vote, but JURI decisions are typically always confirmed by the EP plenary.
EU News reports that Adrián Vázquez Lázara, a Spanish member of the European People’s Party who voted in favor of lifting her immunity, called it a “dangerous and ugly precedent,” because “immunity covers only alleged crimes committed during the mandate, not before.” He also noted that Hungary may very well appeal.
Salis was arrested last February on charges of attempted assault causing death by a criminal organization, and could face up to 11 years in prison. She was held under house arrest in Budapest and later claimed immunity to escape trial in Hungary after being elected as a member of the European Parliament for the far-left GUE/NGL faction. Hungary then applied for her immunity to be lifted.
She was accused in Hungary of participating in brutal Antifa attacks against a number of individuals on the streets of Budapest, with some of the scenes caught on surveillance cameras.
Many of the victims in Budapest, some of whom were mistaken for right-wing extremists but turned out to be people simply headed to work wearing combat boots and dark clothing, were left with life-changing injuries.
JURI also rejected Hungary’s request to lift immunity for opposition leader and Orbán’s primary rival ahead of the 2026 elections, Péter Magyar, whose Tisza Party is part of the EPP. He faced charges of snatching a mobile phone and tossing it into the Danube, as well as defamation of a Fidesz politician.
