28.01.2025 22:00
Italian prosecutors have launched an investigation into Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni regarding the detention and subsequent release of a Libyan warlord for whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant in Italy.
The Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and many members of her cabinet are under investigation. Italian prosecutors have opened a judicial investigation regarding the detention and subsequent release of Libyan warlord Osama Elmasry Njeem, for whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant, involving Prime Minister Meloni, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, and Cabinet Secretary Alfredo Mantovano.
STATEMENT FROM MELONI
Meloni stated that she is being investigated for allegedly aiding and abetting a crime and misusing public funds, saying, "I will not bow to blackmail, and I will not allow myself to be intimidated. Perhaps that is why I am not liked by those who do not want Italy to change and become better."
The investigation was initiated following the release of Njeem, who was detained in Turin last week under an ICC arrest warrant for allegedly committing crimes against humanity, and his subsequent transfer to Libya on an official Italian plane. It is believed that the investigation was initiated by lawyer Luigi Li Gotti, who filed a complaint regarding the decision. The ICC has requested a statement, indicating that it was not consulted by the Italian government regarding the decision.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Meloni also mentioned that the investigation is being conducted by the same prosecutor who opened an investigation in Sicily against Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini for leaving a rescue ship that saved migrants stranded at sea for days in 2019. Salvini was acquitted of this case last month. In August 2019, Salvini did not allow the rescue ship Open Arms, which had saved approximately 160 people in the Mediterranean, to dock in Italy.