The ANM challenges Meloni for the words on the Delmastro case: “The investigating judge does his job, he does not replace the prosecutor”

“In the case of the undersecretary of state Delmaster it was not a question of a replacement of the judge at the prosecutor’s office, but of the dutiful control that the judge exercises over his work. A judge who evaluates the evidence and orients himself independently does not replace the prosecutor, but only does his job as a judge, with the impartiality that distinguishes him”. Joseph Casciaro, president of the National Association of Magistrates, let it be understood that the judges did not like the declarations of Giorgia Meloni at the end of the NATO summit in Vilnius. Indeed, according to the prime minister, the forced indictment of the Undersecretary of Justice for disclosure of official secrecy on the Cospito case would be “a political case, a choice that arouses astonishment”. This is because, she claims, “the trial of parties and the impartiality of the judge means that the judge should not replace the prosecutor. It’s something I look at with amazement: faced with a request for filing, there is a choice – legally lawful – but that almost never happens”.

But the ANM also attacks what was declared by the Prime Minister on the separation of careers envisaged by the reform of the Justice of Nordius: “The judges apply the procedural law on a daily basis and without distinction for all citizens, and it is a state of affairs that I do not see how it could be destined to change in the hypothesis of separation of careers”. And the president Casciaro reiterates: “The magistrates are always ready to provide their technical contribution and experience in a spirit of service, today as in the past, for reforms that we hope are truly marked by faster processes for an effective improvement of the service”.

Nordio: “As a former magistrate, I never thought of attaching the robes”

And the Keeper of the Seals also speaks of the tensions with the judiciary. “It’s not a fight at all. I personally received the president of the ANM ten days ago”. On the sidelines of the Piazza Italia event, promoted by the Brothers of Italy in Rome, the Minister of Justice tried to clarify the clash with the robes and the national association of the magistrates after the case Delmaster and the disputes on some key points of its reform, such as the separation of careers, the stop to wiretapping and the prescription. “When you are lovers there are always disagreements, which are resolved well – ironized Nordio – As a magistrate, a former magistrate but still a magistrate, I would never enter into conflict with the judiciary. This does not mean that there are no discussions on issues which we have different opinions”.

Justice reform is currently on the table of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella for signature. But it could take a few days for the green light to be approved. “I bow to the guidelines of the Quirinale, since it is a bill and not a decree, transit through the Quirinale is a duty”, Nordio clarified.

Speaking of the Delmastro case, Undersecretary of Justice for which the Rome investigating judge ordered the compulsory indictment for disclosure of official secrecy in the Cospito case, Nordio observes: “I recognize myself in the via Arenula note we gave. I reiterate that, from a purely technical point of view, the Vassalli code has not led to the extreme consequences of the principle of the accusatory process, which the prosecutor wants to monopolize the criminal action, and has left the judge the possibility of what is called ‘compulsory indictment’. This is in contrast with the principles of the accusatory process and in our opinion needs to be reformed”.

With regards to the knots of justice reform, Nordio recalled that “this misunderstanding has been played out for thirty years. There is no correlation between the separation of careers and the subjection of judges to politics”. And he added: “In the American legal system, the prosecutor even answers to the voters because he is elective. If he carries out too long and expensive investigations, he goes home”.

On the external competition in mafia association, the minister remains convinced that “it does not exist as a crime, it is a jurisprudential creation. The concept itself is contradictory, an oxymoron. We don’t want to eliminate external competition. We know you can be an aider outside the organization. But then the crime that does not exist at the moment must be remodulated. The penal case at the moment is not structured. It is empty metaphysics to think that a favor can be done to the mafia in this way”.

Finally, the abolition of abuse of office: “The papers speak. Out of over 5,000 proceedings each year, 8 or 10 convictions for related crimes eventually arrive. So it’s a kind of residual crime. An expenditure that creates fear of signature by the administrators, whoever receives the notice of guarantee does not work well and has compromises of professional careers. For twenty years, attempts have been made to modify it and it has been modified many times, and the result has always been the same: a flood of proceedings and zero convictions. At this point, abolishing it was the only possible solution.”