The Lower House on Wednesday rejected
a no confidence motion filed by the centre-left opposition
against Justice Minister Carlo Nordio over his handling of the
arrest, release and return to Libya of an alleged war criminal
wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Libyan
judicial police chief General Osama Almasri.
The motion was defeated by 215 votes to 119 with the centrist
opposition party Azione choosing to not follow the rest of the
centre-left by not taking part in the vote.
Nordio earlier told the House that he was being attacked to
avoid a reform of the judiciary aimed at separating the career
paths of judges and prosecutors and at changing the way members
of the judiciary's self-governing body are elected.
He also accused opposition members of reminding him of the
"inquisition" and denied delaying his response to Rome's appeals
court, which allowed Almasri to be released from detention two
days after his January 19 arrest on an ICC warrant in Turin and
return to Libya on a State flight.
Leaving the House after the vote, Nordio said "Parliament is
sovereign and anything it decides represents the will of the
people and therefore" this "satisfies me because I am a
democrat".
He also said he would not backtrack "even by a centimetre" on
the reform of the judiciary.
"The reform will move forward without hesitations", he said.
The Constitutional reform bill to separate the career paths of
prosecutors and judges so they can no longer switch between the
two roles has received the first green light from the Lower
House of at least four parliamentary votes necessary for its
approval.
The bill also creates a high court to discipline members of the
judiciary and changes the make-up of the judiciary's self
governing body, the CSM, overhauling the way CSM justices are
elected, using a draw process.
The reform is opposed by the judiciary's union, the National
Association of Magistrates, which says it will weaken the
judiciary and ultimately place prosecutors under the executive's
control, a claim rejected by Nordio.
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