The Bar Association and the Criminal Chamber's board of directors have rejected the holding, in the Great Hall of the Cagliari Court of Appeal, of the first meeting of the regional branch of the "Committee for the Defense of the Constitution for the No to the Constitutional Referendum." This partisan meeting, against the Meloni government's justice reform, is scheduled for December 4th.
"This initiative deserves appreciation, as do all those that contribute to stimulating information and fueling pluralistic public debate on issues of such significant collective interest," explains the president of the Cagliari Bar Association, Matteo Pinna, while " the choice of venue deserves a different assessment." In a letter to the president of the Court of Appeal, which granted the space, the president emphasizes that "the Palace of Justice and its courtrooms are not—and cannot become—a theater of politics and electoral contests. They are not partisan places: they represent one of the highest bastions of democratic institutions, the space where justice is administered in the name of the people and where the political neutrality of institutions must be cultivated as an absolute value." For this reason, the Council of the Bar Association is requesting that the authorization be revoked.
The board of the Criminal Chamber of the capital city agrees: "We believe it is our duty," a document reads, "in the interest of the legal community and citizens, to express our firm opposition to the use of institutional courtrooms for political referendum initiatives. Courthouses are not the 'home' of any category, but of the Italian people, in whose name justice is administered. Their function requires neutrality and impartiality, to protect the credibility of the courts and the equality of the parties. It is therefore inappropriate, and profoundly wrong," the statement concludes, "to use a symbolic place like the Aula Magna to support a partisan position in a political and constitutional debate."
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)