Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi are expected to report to
Parliament on the case of Libyan official Osama Almasri,
multiple government sources have confirmed.
The issue is set to be discussed at party whips' meetings in the
Lower House and Senate scheduled on Tuesday to define the next
calendar of sessions, the sources said.
The centre-left opposition has repeatedly called on government
members, and in particular on Meloni, to urgently report to the
Lower House and Senate over the case, effectively closing down
Parliament last week till Monday in protest.
On Monday, League party Senator Giulia Bongiorno, who has been
appointed as the sole attorney representing Premier Giorgia
Meloni, Nordio, Piantedosi and Cabinet Secretary with the
intelligence brief Alfredo Mantovano in a probe into the release
and return home of the wanted alleged war criminal and Libyan
judicial police commander after a criminal complaint was filed
against them, held a meeting at the premier's office Palazzo
Chigi.
Meanwhile on Monday evening, prosecutors in Perugia, who have
jurisdiction over cases concerning magistrates in Rome, were
reported to have opened a probe, without formulating a charge or
identifying those under investigation, following a criminal
complaint filed by attorney Luigi Mele against Rome's Chief
Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi, who last week notified Meloni and
the other government officials that a complaint had been filed
against them in connection to the Almasri case, and the attorney
who filed the complaint to the Rome's State Attorney's Office
Luigi Li Gotti.
Last week, Meloni said she had received notice of a probe into
possible aiding and abetting and embezzlement of public funds
from Lo Voi and that the same notice of investigation had been
sent to Nordio, Piantedosi and Mantovano.
The notification was issued after attorney Li Gotti, a former
centre-left justice undersecretary and earlier a neo-Fascist
party member, filed the criminal complaint over the case, in
which Almasri was flown back on a State flight to a hero's
welcome in Tripoli, where he allegedly raped and murdered
migrants as young as five since 2015, according to the
International Criminal Court, on whose warrant he was arrested
in Turin two days before being released on a technicality on
January 21.
The Tribunal of Ministers is set to examine the case to decide
whether to pursue it or shelve it.
And also on Monday, a man who says he is a victim and witness of
the abuse allegedly committed by Almasri also filed a criminal
complaint to the Rome prosecutor's office in which he claims
Meloni, Nordio and Piantedosi aided and abetted the suspected
war criminal.
The alleged victim, Lam Magok Biel Ruei, filed the complaint
claiming the government officials "helped the Libyan torturer
evade justice".
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