"Yes to protection for Piccirillo", the CSM (split) defends the prosecutor attacked by Nordio
After the Almasri case
The application to protect the Deputy Attorney General of the Supreme Court of Cassation was approved by a majority. The center-right secularists opposed it: it is an attack on justice reform.
The Superior Council of the Judiciary decided yesterday to "protect" Raffaele Piccirillo , Deputy Attorney General of the Supreme Court, from the attacks of Justice Minister Carlo Nordio. The move stems from an interview with Piccirillo, former chief of staff to the Five Star Movement's Minister of Justice Alfonso Bonafede , in which he criticized the behavior of his colleagues in the capital and Nordio himself for their handling of the "Almasri" case.
It must be said that these criticisms are understandable, given the inertia of Via Arenula toward the ferocious Libyan general, who was returned with full honors to Tripoli instead of being arrested on a warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague , but they are highly inappropriate, as Piccirillo's office could one day be called upon to handle this matter, with the resulting risk that someone might exploit his statements for political gain. Nordio, taking his cue from the interview, attacked Piccirillo in a party-line speech, stating that "in any country in the world they would have called in the nurses." Not content with this, he raised the possibility of disciplinary action against him, later dismissing it as unnecessary because the disciplinary section of the CSM is "composed of people elected by those who must be judged," and then described the disciplinary jurisdiction of magistrates as " a clearinghouse" between the associative components of the ANM.
To make matters worse, Nordio also stated that politicians have never reformed the justice system "out of fear." These are, in fact, extremely obvious statements, as it is well known that disciplinary proceedings against magistrates often end in nothing, even when faced with very serious accusations. A case in point is the ignominious dismissal of Luca Palamara for having dinner with Democratic Party member Luca Lotti , and the simple loss of seniority of the then Florence prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo, accused of sexually harassing a female colleague . According to the CSM, Nordio's words were so serious that they undermined the smooth running of Piccirillo's work. The protective order, for the record, was approved by a majority. The center-right secularists, Isabella Bertolini, Daniela Bianchini, Felice Giuffrè (FdI), Enrico Aimi (FI), Claudia Eccher (Lega), opposed the proposal, according to whom the real purpose of this practice was not to defend Piccirillo but rather an attack on Nordio's justice reform.
And then there's the timing: the case was opened on July 18th and was already on the agenda of the plenary yesterday. A "turbo vote" compared to many other cases that have been pending for ages. " Regarding Dr. Raffaele Piccirillo, a magistrate serving in an office of the highest responsibility, I note once again that he has ruled on the merits of a case pending before the Tribunal of Ministers, where I am under investigation," the Keeper of the Seals commented yesterday. "Furthermore, he has expressed criticism of the Rome Prosecutor General's Office and the Court of Appeal itself. I am not aware of any case being opened to protect these magistrates."
l'Unità
