Delmastro case, the lunge of Nordio: “The reform of the register of suspects is urgent, the forced indictment is unreasonable”

ROME. Palazzo Chigi had paved the way with the unofficial note attacking the judiciary, accused of politicized action in the Santanchè and Delmastro cases. And immediately afterwards it was up to the Minister Keeping the Seals, Carlo Nordio, to give it substance. Therefore, despite being in Japan where he participates in the G7 of justice ministers, despite the unofficial forms of “ministry sources”, Nordio makes known his “bewilderment and unease” over the fate of his colleague Daniela Santanchè . Or “for the umpteenth press release of an act that should remain confidential”.

Nordio also announces, and here he almost seems to reassure the prime minister that the homework has already been done, that “the proposed reform aims to eliminate this anomaly by protecting the honor of every presumed innocent citizen until definitively sentenced”. We remind you that the Nordio bill, fired by the Council of Ministers and shortly delivered to the Chambers, provides precisely that “the guarantee information must be transmitted to protect the suspect’s right of defense” and that “the prohibition to publish guarantee information until the end of the preliminary investigations”. In the Santanchè case, even in the presence of a serious investigation involving a minister in office, in the future it will not be possible to give any news until the end of the preliminary investigations, which can last up to a year.

But then there is the burning Delmastro case. And here too Nordio makes himself heard: “The forced indictment against the Hon. Delmastro Delle Vedove, as with any other suspect, demonstrates the irrationality of our system. In fact, in the ensuing trial, the prosecution will do nothing but insist on the request for acquittal in line with the request for dismissal. Where, on the contrary, he will ask for a conviction he will only contradict himself ”.

It is certainly a very particular case that sees the prosecution lean towards archiving and the judge of preliminary investigations overturning everything. The minister then explains, here rather in the guise of a former magistrate: “In the accusatory process the Public Prosecutor, who is not and should not be subject to the executive power and is absolutely independent, is the monopolist of the criminal action and therefore rationally cannot be denied by a judge on the basis of elements which the accuser himself does not believe. The great part of the forced indictments ends, in fact, with acquittals after long and painful and useless trials, with great waste of human and economic resources also for the necessary defensive activities”.

And so what? “For this we need a radical reform that fully implements the prosecution system”. The radical reform that Nordio preaches is truly radical: separation of careers, discretion of prosecution, rewriting of the penal code and the code of penal procedure from scratch.

Finally, the European Commission’s doubts about its bill. In a recent Report on the justice of the Twenty-Seven, we read that the repeal of the crime of abuse of office and the limitations on the crime of trafficking in influence risk damaging the fight against corruption.

Being together in Japan, the minister met in Tokyo with the EU Justice Commissioner, Didier Reynders. “The minister – the ministry said – reiterated to the Commissioner that the Italian penal code provides for an entire title dedicated to crimes against the Public Administration and that in this context the abuse of office represents a residual case, with the function of closing the system , applicable only where a different and more serious crime cannot be configured”.

In short, the abuse of office, according to Nordio, comes after 18 other possible crimes. “A system capable of effectively targeting any aggressive conduct of the protected property”. Nordio explained the numbers again to Commissioner Reynders: in 2021, out of a total of 5,292 finalized cases, only 9 convictions were recorded. And he concludes, arguing that it is precisely Europe that is asking us to streamline the penal system. “The legislative initiative that the Government is preparing to issue, therefore, would also have the effect of reducing the workload on prosecutors, with a clear, overall improvement in the times for defining criminal proceedings, which is one of the priority objectives that the European Commission itself expects from Italy”.