The Tribunal of Ministers is probing the complaints of a man from South Sudan and a woman from the Ivory Coast who say they were victims of Libyan judicial police chief Osama Almasri, who was arrested in Turin on January 19 on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity only to be released two days later on a technicality and flown back to Tripoli on a state flight.
The Italian Tribunal of Ministers, which is tasked with probing government members under Constitutional law, is investigating the criminal complaints filed by two alleged victims of Libyan general Osama Almasri, who is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The complaints were filed by a man from South Sudan and a woman from the Ivory Coast.
In an earlier complaint filed to Rome's State Attorney's Office, attorney Luigi Li Gotti alleged that Premier Giorgia Meloni, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Cabinet Undersecretary with the intelligence brief Alfredo Mantovano had aided and abetted Almasri's continued ability to commit crimes by sending him back to his post at Tripoli's notorious Mitiga Prison and further allegedly embezzled public funds by using a secret service plane to fly him back there.
The second complaint delivered by Rome prosecutors to the Tribunal of Ministers sees South Sudanese citizen Lam Magok Biel Ruei accuse Meloni, Nordio and Piantedosi of allegedly aiding and abetting Almasri to escape justice over his release in Italy and flight back to Tripoli.
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Woman reports being raped, beaten up at Mitiga prison
The second complaint only mentions charges of aiding and abetting and does not include Mantovano. Court documents filed by an Ivorian woman, Angela Maria Bitonti, say she was raped and beaten up at the Mitiga detention center and says the woman is available to provide further testimony and documentation on the alleged abuse.
The Tribunal of Ministers has recently requested documents from the justice and interior ministries. Overall, judges have requested all the papers concerning the case of the Libyan general, from his arrest in Turin on January 19 to his expulsion on January 21 on a State flight.
Documents being examined by the court also include the over 40-page-long arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) which led to Almasri's arrest. The Libyan official had been in Europe already for 12 days prior to his arrest but the warrant was finalized on January 18, when he was already in Italy.
Attorney of South Sudan citizen accuses Nordio of 'inertia'
The Tribunal will also be examining the documents produced over the course of the 48 hours following Almasri's arrest: the order with which the appeals court of Rome on January 21 ordered the release of the Libyan official over procedural errors and in particular that "lack of contacts" with the justice ministry.
Discussing the controversial technicality that led to Almasri's release, during a report to Parliament on the case earlier this month, Nordio said the ICC arrest warrant was 'faulty', which made it impossible for him to immediately respond to the request issued by Rome's appeals court ahead of its decision on whether to validate Almasri's detention or release him.
The justice ministry handles all relations with The Hague-based court.
The South Sudanese citizen, who is also a witness in the ICC's case against Almasri, describes the abuse he endured in the criminal complaint, accusing the Italian government of "jeopardizing the possibility of getting justice" for himself and for all the other people who "survived (Almasri's) violence as well as those he killed and those who will continue to endure the torture and abuse committed by him or under his command."
The attorney representing the man who works for migrants' rights group Baobab Experience, Francesco Romeo, accused Nordio of "inertia", claiming he "could and should have requested the pre-trial custody of a criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court".
The lack of initiative, the lawyer stated, together with the "decree signed by the interior minister, with the immediate organization of a State flight to take back to Libya the wanted man, allowed Almasri to avoid arrest and return with impunity to his country of origin, preventing a trial against him".
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