Salis had been held in Hungary for over a year.

Italian anti-fascist activist Ilaria Salis returned to Italy on Saturday after being released from house arrest in Hungary following her election to the European parliament.

Salis, a 40-year-old Italian teacher, had been held in Hungary for 15 months on charges relating to an alleged assault on far-right demonstrators in Budapest in February 2023.

In a high-profile case that sparked a diplomatic incident, Salis was charged with attempted assault and accused of being part of an extreme left-wing organisation.

Images of Salis shackled in a Hungarian courtroom caused outrage in Italy, prompting Rome to intervene diplomatically to secure her transfer from jail to house arrest in May.

Earlier this month Salis was elected to the European parliament after running as a candidate for the left-wing Green and Left Alliance (AVS), obtaining more than 170,000 votes and securing parliamentary immunity.

Her father Roberto Salis, who collected his newly-released daughter in Budapest before driving her back home to Monza in northern Italy, told reporters on Saturday: "A nightmare is over".