ICC probing government on Almasri case - media

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 6 - The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened a probe into the Italian government's alleged obstruction of the administration of justice over the release of Libyan general Osama Almasri and flight back home to Libya following his January 19 arrest by Italian authorities on an ICC warrant, the online edition of the Avvenire newspaper reported on Thursday.
    The ICC reportedly opened an investigation into whether decisions taken by the government "hindered the administration of justice under article 70 of the Statute of Rome" on the case of the Libyan judicial police chief who is wanted by the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, rape and sexual violence, allegedly committed in Libya from February 2015 onwards.
    His release has sparked an outcry and led the ICC to request clarification.
    Article 70 of the Rome Statute deals with acts punishable by the Court as offences against the administration of justice.
    The probe was opened after a Sudanese refugee filed a complaint against Premier Giorgia Meloni, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, Avvenire reported.
    The Sudanese refugee who filed the complaint had already reported to international investigators in 2019 that he and his wife had allegedly been tortured by the Libyan general, the head of the notorious Mitiga detention facility, when they were held in Libya.
    In the 23-page complaint he has filed now, the asylum seeker, a Sudanese citizen from Darfur who has been granted refugee status in France, said he was a victim of numerous crimes together with his wife and several others.
    In 2019, Avvenire reports, the man had provided "ample evidence" to the prosecutor's office in The Hague which he claimed implicated high European Union and Italian officials, including former premiers and ministers whom he said had favoured crimes against humanity in Libya.
    His account as a witness was included in court papers attached to the arrest warrant against Almasri, per the report.
    Avvenire wrote that the man's lawyers are working to correct the first complaint, which contained mistakes, including the indication that the Libyan general was "in Italy for 12 days", while Almasri travelled to the country on January 18 and was flown back to Libya on an Italian secret services plane on January 22 after being released by Rome's appeals court on a technicality.
    The article says that, "according to the prosecution, which lists Meloni, Nordio and Piantedosi as 'suspects', the representatives of the Italian government did not hand over Almasri to the International Criminal Court".
    "They abused their executive powers to disregard international and national obligations", allegedly breaching in particular article 70 of the Statute of Rome which regulates measures against those who hinder international justice, the report also said.
    Under the article, "the Court shall have jurisdiction over the following offences against its administration of justice when committed intentionally", including , "obstructing or interfering with the attendance or testimony of a witness".
    (ANSA).