Ilaria Salis

Ilaria Salis (born 17 June 1984) is an Italian politician, activist, and teacher. She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2024 for the Green and Left Alliance.

Personal life
Salis was born on 17 June 1984 and grew up in Monza, Italy. She received a undergraduate degree in history at the University of Milan, graduating in December 2005. After completing her undergraduate degree, she worked as a teacher. In 2021 she obtained a Master's degree in philology, literature and history of antiquity from the University of Milan.

Arrest and detention
On 11 February 2023, Salis was arrested in Hungary, after alleged assaults on neo-Nazis at a far-right event in Budapest. She was accused of attempted assault and being part of a left-wing organization. She denied the charges and the alleged victims of the attacks did not file reports with police.

Amid rising public outrage in her home country, the Italian government protested the shackling of Salis with chains around her hand and feet for her trial appearance. On 19 December 2023, seven Italian MEPs with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats accused the Hungarian government of holding her "bound by the neck in a cell with mice and cockroaches" and argued that the "injuries of the two assaulted individuals who reported her were only minor". Salis wrote that she spent "23 hours out of 24 in a completely closed cell".

In May 2024, she was released from prison and transferred to house arrest in Budapest.

Election to the European Parliament
In June 2024, Salis was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Green and Left Alliance, obtaining more than 170,000 votes. As a MEP, she gained legal immunity and was released from house arrest, finally returning to Italy.

She plans to leverage her role to advocate for the rights of incarcerated individuals, address the housing shortage, and tackle the issue of excessive rental costs.