House rejects Nordio no confidence motion

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 26 - The Lower House on Wednesday rejected a no confidence motion filed by the centre-left opposition against Justice Minister Carlo Nordio over his handling of the arrest, release and return to Libya of an alleged war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Libyan judicial police chief General Osama Almasri.
    The motion was defeated by 215 votes to 119 with the centrist opposition party Azione choosing to not follow the rest of the centre-left by not taking part in the vote.
    Nordio earlier told the House that he was being attacked to avoid a reform of the judiciary aimed at separating the career paths of judges and prosecutors and at changing the way members of the judiciary's self-governing body are elected.
    He also accused opposition members of reminding him of the "inquisition" and denied delaying his response to Rome's appeals court, which allowed Almasri to be released from detention two days after his January 19 arrest on an ICC warrant in Turin and return to Libya on a State flight.
    Leaving the House after the vote, Nordio said "Parliament is sovereign and anything it decides represents the will of the people and therefore" this "satisfies me because I am a democrat".
    He also said he would not backtrack "even by a centimetre" on the reform of the judiciary.
    "The reform will move forward without hesitations", he said.
    The Constitutional reform bill to separate the career paths of prosecutors and judges so they can no longer switch between the two roles has received the first green light from the Lower House of at least four parliamentary votes necessary for its approval.
    The bill also creates a high court to discipline members of the judiciary and changes the make-up of the judiciary's self governing body, the CSM, overhauling the way CSM justices are elected, using a draw process. The reform is opposed by the judiciary's union, the National Association of Magistrates, which says it will weaken the judiciary and ultimately place prosecutors under the executive's control, a claim rejected by Nordio. (ANSA).