The chains that imprison our dignity and become an obstacle to democracy
Chains on wrists, chains on feet, the chain as a leash. Chains have always represented the denial of the freedom we all cherish. Nelson Mandela wrote, "the chains imposed on one of us weigh on the shoulders of all."
So in recent days we have felt as a community, watching the images of Ilaria Salis being led and held in chains at the first hearing of the trial in which she is a defendant in Budapest, the weight of those chains, as an injustice, not because she is innocent of the crimes charged against her, but because it is not human to humiliate and treat a person that way.
To us Italians those chains weigh even heavier because our feeling about human dignity is perhaps different today from that of the Hungarian people, because of our conception of the rule of law, because of our history, because of the achievements we have made, because of a Constitution that is based on the recognition and defense of fundamental rights. Let us not delude ourselves, there have been and still are many and too many episodes that even in our country turn a detainee into a non-person, deprived of his rights and dignity.
Just think of the suicides that take place in our prisons, the overcrowding in cells that has become commonplace in all correctional institutions, the many unnecessary inmates locked up for a long time awaiting trial or for misdemeanors, which could be handled through the many different ways provided by law.
Even in our country those who are poor stay in jail shile not seeing reassures us, and in any case in a trial hearing we never see a person being led into the courtroom like a dangerous animal. That is why when we see him questions arise, perplexity begins, we wonder how those chains weigh on our sense of justice and dignity.
A desire comes to begin to delve deeper and we discover that for the crimes charged against Ilaria Salis in Hungary one faces up to 24 years in prison and in Italy much less.
Then it turns out that according to Amnesty International "there is the 2009 Framework Decision of the European Council on Mutual Recognition of Decisions on Alternative Measures to Pre-trial Detention', which in such cases provides the detainee with a range of alternative measures, such as house arrest. It may not necessarily be applicable only upon final conviction, but even earlier."
With the possibility of also being able to serve the sentence in one's own country and we wonder what is the point of the punishment that a state should inflict on those who have committed crimes and therefore also the possibility of a person's rehabilitation.
We wonder how it is that two countries that recognize themselves on inviolable human rights and are in the same European community, can have such strong disparities on such an issue as justice, the cornerstone of the life of a democratic state.
Those chains that prevent a person from moving give concreteness to the different way of understanding justice, democracy, freedom, dignity. They are heavy chains politically even for those who have thought and narrated that, in the strange form of Hungarian democracy, the system proposed by Orbán, might be a possible model to follow. All the more so when those chains appear in our eyes on the very eve of an election campaign for a European vote that is considered by many analysts to be very important and could mark a political turning point on our continent.
These are alarming chains that need to be remedied, because they are dangerous far more than many words.
"Men who aspire to be free can hardly think of enslaving others. If they try to do so, they only make their own chains of slavery tighter as well." wrote Mahatma Gandhi.
The loss of civil rights and dignity even if it affects others from us, it affects everyone's freedom.
This is the message that comes to our hearts and minds from those chains of Ilaria Salis, because if we identify with her, we would not want to be forced to suffer that humiliation, even if we were guilty.
And when we empathize with the stories of others, it changes the way we see things. A state is strong not when it uses force, but when it does not make anyone lose their rights, starting with the right to see their dignity respected. That's what our Constitution teaches us, that's what underlies every democratic political construction, including that of the European Community. For these reasons those chains have imprisoned all of us as well.
Pierluigi Ermini, is a public communicator, lover of writing, creator of the blog "Pierluigi's Paths" and Valdarno contact person for the Libera Association.
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