The Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Justice, Giusi Bartolozzi, has been placed under investigation by the Rome prosecutor's office in the proceedings for the case of Osama Njeem Almasri , the Libyan commander and torturer arrested and then repatriated from Italy last January despite an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.
Last month, the Tribunal of Ministers sent a request to the Chamber for authorization to proceed in the same matter against Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, Minister Matteo Piantedosi, and Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio .
The crime alleged by the prosecution is Article 371 bis of the Criminal Code, which punishes "anyone who, during criminal proceedings, requested by the public prosecutor or the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to provide information for the purposes of the investigation, makes false statements or withholds, in whole or in part, what he or she knows about the facts about which he or she is being questioned ." The penalty is up to four years in prison .
The magistrates are scrutinizing Bartolozzi's statements to the Tribunal of Ministers , which in recent weeks has been investigating Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's role in the affair. Nordio is under investigation in a separate case for failure to perform official duties and aiding and abetting.
According to testimonies and documents from the proceedings , Bartolozzi played an important role in managing the dossier opened with the sending by The Hague of the arrest warrant for Almasri and the subsequent exchange of communications within the ministry between January 19, the day of the Libyan general's arrest, and the 21st, the date of his repatriation .
(Unioneonline)