Justice

Career separation, the Anm attacks Nordio: in 1994 he was against it. The minister: for 30 years I have changed my mind

On the Association's website the letter signed in 1994. The minister: 'I changed my mind after the suicide of one of my suspects'.

by Rome Editorial Staff

24 July 2025

Il Ministro della Giustizia Carlo Nordio, July 23 2025. (Photo by Mauro Scrobogna / LaPresse )

3' min read

Key points

Document from Anm: Nordio signed against career separation
Nordio: I've believed this for 30 years, never changed my mind again
Csm approves protection file for magistrate in Almasri case
Csm: serious words from Nordio on Piccirillo, risk of distrust

3' min read

The clash between the government and magistrates is getting more and more bitter. On a day on which the plenum of the Csm approved by a majority vote the case for the protection of the deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court Raffaele Piccirillo, the magistrate criticised by Nordio for his interview on the Almasri case, there is also the publication of an old document by the ANM in which the current Minister of Justice Nordio sided against the career separation. A constitutional reform approved two days ago in second reading by the Senate and sponsored with conviction by the Guardasigilli and the entire government

Document from Anm: Nordio signed against career separation

"Against as a public prosecutor, in favour as a minister. Carlo Nordio, the keeper of the seals who today gives his name to the constitutional bill for the separation of careers, is the same Carlo Nordio who, as a public prosecutor, signed an appeal against the separation. This is shown by this letter signed by the then magistrate in Venice and sent to the ANM. It was 3 May 1994'. This is what can be read on the online site 'La magistratura', a magazine edited by the National Association of Magistrates, which also publishes a 1994 document with the header of the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Venice Court, which was sent by fax to the Rome headquarters of the National Association of Magistrates, in which Nordio signed, together with other magistrates, that he was 'against the division of the careers of magistrates with prosecuting and judging functions'.

Nordio: changed my mind after suicide case of one of my suspects

The Guardasigilli's reply was prompt: 'In those years I was against the separation of careers because I hoped that the judiciary would remain united, in times of massacres and tangentopoli. Then there was the case of the suicide of a suspect in one of my investigations in Venice. From there I realised that it was going too far and in 1995 I changed my mind, so much so that even some newspapers the next day headlined my new decision. I was certainly not the only one among magistrates, politicians and journalists to change their minds. In 1997 I was called by the probiviri of the ANM to account for my ideas, which I reiterated'. Thus the Minister of Justice to Ansa.

Csm approves protection file for magistrate in Almasri case

In the meantime, it should be noted that the plenum of the Csm approved by a majority vote the case for the protection of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Raffaele Piccirillo, the magistrate criticised by Nordio ('in any country in the world they would have called in the nurses') for his interview on the Almasri case. There were five votes against, from the centre-right laymen Aimi, Bertolini, Bianchini, Eccher and Giuffrè. Among the togati, the only abstainer was Bernadette Nicotra, who had not signed the request to open the case for protection. Yesterday, the plenum had been skipped twice for lack of a quorum, after the centre-right lay councillors of the Csm had left the chamber, deciding not to take part in the debate or in the vote on Piccirillo's protection case. Today, although they deserted the debate, they took part in the vote. At the basis of the new decision there would be the will not to blow up the vote on other resolutions.

In an interview with Repubblica, Piccirillo, former chief of staff at Via Arenula before the Meloni government, had explained that he believed 'there were no valid legal reasons for not validating the arrest' of Almasri 'and not handing him over to the International Criminal Court'. According to the magistrate, neither the judicial authority nor the minister could review 'the serious indications and the precautionary requirements underlying the Court's arrest warrant'. And Nordio, he had added, 'could not even question the jurisdiction of the Court, which - if questioned by the arrestee - should have been established by the ICC itself'.

Csm: serious words from Nordio on Piccirillo, risk of no confidence

"The Superior Council of the Judiciary notes the seriousness of the statements made by the Minister of Justice, due to their potential impact on citizens' confidence in the judicial function; it considers that they are likely to affect the serene and independent exercise of jurisdiction and affirms, therefore, the need, within the scope of its constitutional duties, to protect the prestige of the judicial order, renewing the call for respect for the principles of autonomy, independence and loyal cooperation between the powers of the State". This is what is stated in the resolution, just approved by the plenum of the Csm, to protect the magistrate criticised by Nordio for his interview on the Almasri case.