After more than four months in prison, the former vice president of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, under investigation in Belgium as part of the investigation into alleged corruption aimed at influencing the decision-making processes of the European Union, has also been released. According to what has been learned, the judges of the council chamber of the Brussels court have ordered house arrest for Kaili with the obligation of an electronic bracelet. Before her, Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella and former Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri were also released from prison and are on probation.
“A logical decision that we have waited for far too long,” commented Sven Mary, one of the lawyers of the former EP vice president arrested on 9 December last year in the context of the so-called Qatargate investigation. “Eva Kaili comes out of prison with her head held high and with dignity, she has not confessed to crimes she has not committed, she will fight for her innocence until the end,” added another defender of Kaili, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, commenting on the news of the release of the Hellenic politician.
S&D group MEP Massimiliano Smeriglio is satisfied with Kaili’s release, speaking of an “important step for her, for the child and for restoring a serene atmosphere around the trial, which must exist and must clarify”. Smeriglio had written a letter, signed by other colleagues in the S&D group, asking President Roberta Metsola to verify the conditions of detention of Kaili, mother of a two-year-old girl.
