Italy’s ministerial court has dropped a case against three senior officials accused of unlawfully repatriating Libyan General Osama Najim Almasri, who faces charges of crimes against humanity. The decision comes after Italy’s Lower House rejected a request to prosecute Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, and Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano, according to ANSA.
Almasri, a former head of Libya’s judicial police, was arrested in Turin in January on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for alleged torture, rape, and murder at a detention centre in Tripoli. However, he was released two days later after Italy’s Rome appeals court cited a procedural technicality, and he was flown back to Tripoli aboard a state aircraft.
The Tribunal of Ministers alleged that the officials facilitated his release due to fears of reprisals against Italian citizens and interests in Libya if he were handed over to the ICC. Despite accusations of aiding and abetting Almasri’s return, the court has now cleared Nordio, Piantedosi, and Mantovano of wrongdoing.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed the decision, calling it “absurd” that prosecutors sought to charge her ministers while excluding her, as “government decisions are collective.” A petition has since been filed by a lawyer representing an Ivorian woman allegedly tortured by Almasri, challenging the move to shelve the case against Meloni.
In Libya, Almasri was dismissed from his position in September amid efforts by Tripoli to improve its human rights record. He was replaced by General Suleiman Ajaj under the supervision of General Abdul Fattah Dubub, as part of a wider restructuring aimed at reforming the country’s judicial police and restoring its international reputation.
Officials from Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party have defended the ministers, saying their actions were in the “national interest.”
