ANM slams delegitimization of judiciary by govt, ministry

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 8 - Italian magistrates union ANM on Saturday denounced the "delegitimization" of the judiciary by the government and the justice ministry in relation to judicial proceedings underway against two members of the executive in Rome and Milan.
    Government sources made "a very heavy accusation that strikes at the heart of the judiciary", said ANM president Giusppe Santalucia in relation to a statement issued by Palazzo Chigi on Thursday evening challenging the forced indictment by a Rome judge of Justice Undersecretary Delmastro Delle Vedove for allegedly revealing official secrets and questioning the legitimacy of media revelations about a probe involving Tourism Minister Daniela Santanché for suspected fraudulent bankruptcy and false accounting in Milan.
    In the statement, sources at Palazzo Chigi suggested that part of the judiciary has decided to take part in the opposition.
    Santalucia also said a subsequent statement made by the justice ministry on Friday describing the Delmastro ruling as "unreasonable" and saying that it demonstrated "the irrationality of our system" joined "the voices of delegitimisation".
    Delmastro, a member of Premier Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, is under investigation in relation to revelations made in parliament about the case of jailed anarchist leader Alfredo Cospito by Giovanni Donzelli, a fellow FdI MP.
    The case concerns an alleged breach of secrecy rules as Delmastro, who is also Donzelli's flat mate, was the source of the information his fellow MP disclosed in parliament.
    On Thursday, a Rome preliminary investigations judge decided to reject the prosecution's request for the case to be shelved and order that it instead file a request for his indictment.
    "What is needed is a radical reform that fully implements the prosecution system," justice ministry sources said on Friday morning, adding that now "'the prosecution will merely insist on the request for his acquittal consistent with its request for the probe to be shelved".
    Santanché, who is also a member of Meloni's FdI, is reportedly under investigation in relation to allegations of fraudulent bankruptcy and false accounting regarding the Visibilia publishing group that she founded, although on Wednesday she told parliament she was not being probed and on Thursday she denied having received official notification from the judicial authorities in this respect. (ANSA).