If this gesture was meant to placate Salis’s supporters, it failed. Rather, Italian anti-fascists rejected the diplomatic compromise between the two far-right governments. Ahead of her trial which was scheduled for May, the Greens and Left Alliance — an electoral coalition of progressive and democratic socialist organizations that formed in 2022 — offered Salis their nomination for the upcoming European Parliamentary elections.

Her subsequent victory this June meant that as an elected European Union parliamentarian, she must be granted diplomatic immunity, a longstanding agreement of international law which prevents foreign governments from prosecuting other country’s diplomatic representatives.

This electoral gambit paid off, and Salis was released from house arrest in Hungary. But egregious violations of centuries-old diplomatic mores have been committed in recent history. In 2020, the U.S. arranged for the illegal arrest and rendition of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab who was held until his release last December. In April, [neocolonists] murdered 14 members of the Iranian diplomatic delegation in an airstrike targeting that country’s embassy in Damascus, Syria.

In this case, it was not just a legal loophole that won her freedom.

It was the mass pressure of the radical Italian working class that made Salis’s case an international cause celebre, then elected her to office and then kept up the momentum until she walked free.

[…]

On April 25, Italians commemorated the liberation of Italy from [Axis] forces in 1945. It is a national holiday that took on newfound meaning after the rise of the neo-fascist Brothers of Italy party under President Georgia Meloni. Marchers chanted “Ilaria will be free!” and demanded Italian officials call for her immediate release.

Salis, in a letter to demonstrators delivered by her father, wrote, “In my homeland, we honor the end of World War II and the expulsion of Nazi fascists, a testament to the valorous efforts of partisan men and women. From my confines, I earnestly hope that my nation upholds its storied legacy. May it continue to confront global injustices and remain steadfast on the right side of history. Happy 25th of April!” (Hungary Today, April 26)

“Ilaria epitomizes the spirit of anti-fascism today,” Roberto Salis said of his daughter.

Following the demonstration, activists accused Meloni’s government of censoring the broadcast of another speaker’s remarks, which detailed the history of Italian complicity in the Holocaust and other [Axis] war crimes.

After the elections, in which the Greens and Left Alliance won 6.8% of the seats for Italy’s European Parliamentary delegation, the coalition released a joint statement saying, “Ilaria Salis can now return to Italy and fulfill her new role as indicated by hundreds of thousands of voters.

“Our thanks go to all those who, like us, have been outraged and have not accepted the terrible condition in which she was held in Orbán’s prisons over these months. Now she can defend civil and social rights of the most vulnerable together with us.” (Houston Chronicle, June 14)