Because Bartolozzi, chief of staff at Nordio's Ministry of Justice, is also at risk in the Almasri case.

Osama Almasri should have been arrested immediately and not flown back to Tripoli in the Intelligence Services' Falcon 900. This decision was made by the Tribunal of Ministers in Rome. The panel, composed of judges Maria Teresa Cialoni, Donatella Casari , and Valeria Cerulli , deemed Luigi Birritteri 's testimony credible and therefore requested proceedings against the Ministers of Justice and the Interior, Carlo Nordio and Matteo Piantedosi , and the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Alfredo Mantovano, accused, among other things, of failure to perform official duties and aiding and abetting. The former head of the Department of Administration of Justice on Via Arenula had told the three magistrates that he had prepared the documents, as reported exclusively by Unità on May 30 , to detain in Italy the ferocious and ruthless Libyan general, against whom an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity issued by the Hague Court hung.

Almasri was arrested on January 19th by the Digos (Italian Special Operations Division) in Turin, where he had gone to watch a Juventus match. News of his arrest then reached Rome. Birritteri's office immediately took action and prepared a draft order for Nordio to sign . This would allow Almasri to be held in prison, rectifying the lack of preliminary consultation with the Ministry of Justice, which normally occurs and could have rendered the Libyan's arrest ineffective. It should be noted that this was the document awaited by the Rome Prosecutor General, who was called upon to decide whether or not to validate the arrest. The Prosecutor General had addressed the matter directly to Nordio "pending Your Lordship's decision regarding the action to be taken." The draft, sent by Birritteri by email to the Minister's cabinet chief, Sicilian judge Giusi Bartolozzi, remained untouched. Nordio, in fact, had not signed it, nor had he responded to the requests of the Attorney General of Rome who, on the evening of January 21, ordered the release of Almasri, who was then taken back by the Intelligence Services plane to Tripoli, where he was welcomed with full honors.

The Rome Public Prosecutor's Office, headed by Francesco Lo Voi, had then registered Nordio, Piantedosi, Mantovano, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as suspects. Since the case involved ministerial crimes, the file was forwarded to the Tribunal of Ministers, which, in recent weeks, has conducted its own investigations, questioning the heads of the intelligence services, the Chief of Police, and various officials at the Ministry of Justice, including Birritteri. Nordio, for the record, was not interviewed and did not request to be interviewed. The central role in the entire affair appears to have been played by Nordio's chief of staff, who personally managed the proceedings " without the knowledge "—and this is what the judges suspect—of the minister himself. The magistrate is currently the one most at risk in the event of a dismissal, as she has no "safety net." Meloni's case has been shelved, while Nordio, Piantedosi , and Mantovano can instead count on Parliament , which will certainly deny authorization to proceed against them.

And it was precisely over the magistrate's position that a heated exchange took place yesterday between ANM President Cesare Parodi and the Minister of Justice. The ANM leader, recently promoted by the CSM to prosecutor of Alessandria, recalled during the Radio Anch'io broadcast, without naming Bartolozzi, that " a trial where certain facts are definitively established evidently has political repercussions, not even indirectly, on the people involved." This statement "disconcerted" Nordio. " I don't know how he dares mention my cabinet chief, whose name, at least as far as I know, isn't mentioned in the documents. Otherwise, I would have to assume that Parodi is privy to confidential information," Nordio replied. "As for the political aspect ," he added, " I consider these statements, made by an authoritative ANM representative, an improper and unacceptable invasion of institutional prerogatives." Maurizio Gasparri, president of the Forza Italia senators, also commented on Parodi's statements: "One is truly astonished by these statements, which, moreover, come from a person who has demonstrated a far more balanced approach in other contexts." "Unfortunately, when one becomes president of the National Association of Magistrates, it seems obligatory to persist in the political use of justice, going off-topic and unacceptably overstepping the bounds of one's role," Gasparri concluded.

FROM

Paul Comi