On Wednesday, Italy began freezing bank accounts and seizing real estate properties affiliated with the Libyan Embassy in Rome. This is part of the start of mortgage foreclosure of the real estate offices owned by Libya, according to the Italian NOVA news agency.
Italy’s agency explained that the Libyan Embassy declined to abide by a preliminary ruling issued by a Roman Court, over the reinstatement of ten employees at the Embassy. As well as the repayment of their previous salaries, after they were arbitrarily dismissed.
It also claimed that the employees, who were appointed under an Italian contract, were sacked without justified objective reasons. This was undertaken by the former head of the diplomatic mission, Omar Abdel Salam Tarhouni, who was later removed from his position and detained on corruption charges in Tripoli.
After a lawsuit was filed against the Libyan Mission in June, a preliminary court ruling was issued in favour of the employees, which ordered them to be reinstated.
According to Italy’s agency, the Libyan Embassy “ignored the ruling and submitted an appeal,” claiming that “the dismissal of the employees is based on a decision issued by the Libyan Foreign Ministry, in which Italian justice has no jurisdiction.”
Despite the appeal submitted by the Libyan Embassy, “the judicial seizures of the current accounts and real estate properties of the Libyan Embassy have already begun. This comes at a time when many former employees of the Embassy face financial difficulties, and the risk of forced evictions due to their lack of sufficient income, after losing their work,” according to the agency.
In turn, a Libyan diplomatic source said that, “the Embassy respects Italian laws, and all diplomatic procedures under the Vienna Convention. It is wrong to say that the Libyan side does not show respect for the judicial rulings of Italy.”
