Investigation launched into Italian Prime Minister Meloni

An investigation has been launched into Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and several members of her cabinet.

Italian prosecutors have opened a judicial investigation into Prime Minister Meloni, Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio, Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi, and Undersecretary to the Council of Ministers Alfredo Mantovano, following the detention and subsequent release in Italy of Libyan warlord Osama Elmasry Njeem, who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"I WILL NOT BOW DOWN"

Stating that she is being investigated on allegations of aiding and abetting a crime and misuse of public funds, Meloni said, "I will not bow down to blackmail, and I will not allow myself to be intimidated. Perhaps this is why I am not liked by those who do not want Italy to change and become better."

The investigation was launched after Njeem, who was detained in the city of Turin last week in accordance with an ICC arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity, was released and sent back to Libya on an official Italian government aircraft. It is believed that the investigation was initiated by lawyer Luigi Li Gotti, who filed a complaint regarding the decision. The ICC has requested an explanation from the Italian government, stating that it was not consulted regarding the decision.

Meloni also stated that the investigation in question is being conducted by the same prosecutor who investigated Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini in Sicily in 2019 for leaving a migrant rescue ship stranded at sea for days. Salvini was acquitted in that case last month. In August 2019, Salvini had refused to allow the rescue ship Open Arms, which had saved approximately 160 people in the Mediterranean, to dock at an Italian port.

News Source: İHA