Consulta ready to decide on Almasri case, victim asks for trial

The Almasri case is never-ending. The week will open with new stages in the affair that has sparked political controversy over the Libyan general accused of torture and rape by the Cpi, arrested in Italia over a year ago and then immediately repatriated on a service plane.

The ruling this time will be made by the Consulta, which will meet tomorrow, 13 April, in council chamber after Lam Magok - an alleged victim of Almasri - asked to be admitted to the trial before the Constitutional Court, so that the legitimacy of the Italian legislation requiring the Attorney General to wait for the opinion of the Minister of Justice before following up on the requests of the International Criminal Court can be assessed. The decision will probably come in April while the public hearing on the merits is scheduled for 18 May.

"This is Lam's last chance after, bit by bit, he has been precluded from any legal protection: first by the government, which prevented the establishment of the international trial by refusing to hand over the torturer to the Hague Criminal Court, then by the Italia Parliament, preventing the trial against Ministers Piantedosi and Nordio and Undersecretary Mantovano, thanks to the vote in the courtroom by which the majority denied the authorisation to proceed against them," said the migrant's lawyers, Francesco Romeo of Baobab Experience and Antonello Ciervo, according to whom "Lam's future depends on the decision of the Consulta: if the law implementing the Rome Statute is deemed valid, he will be able to challenge the failure to hand over his executioner. If it will be declared unconstitutional, he will not be able to do so'.

On Tuesday 14 April, however, the case returns to Parliament and could lead to new developments at the Consulta: the Chamber of Deputies will vote on Giusi Bartolozzi, deciding whether to raise a conflict of attribution against the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office for the role played by Nordio's former chief of staff in the same affair. A step that could result in a shield for the minister's former right-hand man. At the same time, a few days ago the Capitoline prosecutors had already requested an indictment for Bartolozzi, who is under investigation for making false statements to prosecutors. If the Chamber were to rule in favour of the appeal to the Constitutional Court, it would take about 15 days to formalise the request to the Constitutional Court and a subsequent decision could arrive close to the summer or soon after.

Finally, there remains the dispute with the ICC, which has become a real test case for relations between the government and international justice. From this point of view, the final confrontation on the Almasri case will take place in New York, from 7 to 17 December, at item 21 on the agenda of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court. It is there that the 'non-cooperation' cases come together and Italy's possible referral will be examined. Before the showdown, Italia will still be able to talk behind closed doors with the Bureau of the Assembly to clarify what happened and indicate how it intends to realign itself to its cooperation obligations. A window that in The Hague is read as "an opportunity for de escalation", useful for Rome to build a more solid position and contain the political impact of the debate. In the best-case scenario, the case could only close with a reprimand.