Human rights attorney Omer Shatz has strongly criticized Italy for releasing Libyan general Osama Almasri despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. He is now considering filing additional complaints with the Hague-based court. The attorney claims the decision to release Almasri was "political, to hide the complicity of the Italian State and the EU in the crimes committed in Libya and in the Mediterranean against migrants".
According to Shatz, there is no doubt about why Rome failed to execute the ICC’s arrest warrant against Almasri, the head of Libya’s judicial police, who is suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Shatz, the legal director of Front-Lex, an organization of human rights lawyers defending victims of migration policies, recently filed a complaint with the ICC on behalf of Sudanese refugee. The complaint names Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, accusing them of obstructing justice by allowing Almasri’s release and repatriation via an Italian government flight to Tripoli.
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'Almasri's victims humiliated by Italian government's conduct'
Shatz condemned Italy’s actions as a "criminal operation" and stated that he is assessing whether to file further complaints on behalf of more Almasri victims.
The Libyan judicial police chief is wanted by the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, rape, and sexual violence, reportedly committed in Libya from February 2015 onward.
"The real victims here feel deeply humiliated and disappointed by the Italian government’s conduct because they wanted to see Almasri stand trial and be held accountable," Shatz told ANSA. Allegations of abuse, violence, and torture in Libyan detention centers have been widely reported by media, activists, the ICC, and the UN Human Rights Council.
Shatz also recalled that in March 2023, a UN inquiry mission to Libya stated that "Italian and EU officials are complicit in crimes against humanity."
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'Almasri extradited because partner of a criminal enterprise'
According to the lawyer, Rome put Almasri on a State flight and hastily sent him back to Tripoli two days after his January 19 arrest in Turin on an ICC warrant to hide this complicity. "They extradited Almasri because he is their counterpart, he is their partner in a criminal enterprise -- stemming migration at all cost -- and this is the cost", he said.
The consequences, Shatz warned, are not only human but also political and legal. He highlighted concerns about the ICC facing potential sanctions from the United States over its investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza.
"It's about the ICC itself and a serious threat that this case poses on the international legal order", explained Shatz.
"In this strongarm, someone will need to lose", contended the attorney.
"If the Court is unable to act against those who openly defy its authority, it will become irrelevant. Almasri is just a small player -- what happens when it comes to Putin or Netanyahu? That’s why this is such a dangerous precedent," he concluded.