Delmastro issue 'political' says Meloni

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 12 - The case of Justice Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro at the centre of recent tension between the government and magistrates is "political", Premier Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday.
    Speaking in Vilnius at the end of the NATO summit Meloni told reporters she had merely taken note "of what seemed to me to be anomalies", adding that she "recognised herself" in the statement issued last Thursday by Palazzo Chigi sources" criticizing the decision of a Rome preliminary investigations judge to order Delmastro's indictment for alleged disclosure of classified information, rejecting the request from prosecutors for the probe to be shelved.
    "Objectively, I was very struck by the issue of Delmastro, it is a political issue, it concerns a member of the government in the exercise of his office," said Meloni.
    "As I see it, proceedings involving the two sides with the judge in a third party role means that the judge should not take the place of the prosecutor," she continued.
    "I say this because I think this is the sense of the statements made by the justice ministry," she added, referring to separate criticism of the judge's indictment ruling by the ministry headed by Carlo Nordio.
    On Friday sources at the justice ministry described the decision as "unreasonable" and said it demonstrated "the irrationality of our system".
    "'The prosecution will merely insist in the request for is acquittal consistent with its request for the probe to be shelved," said the sources.
    "What is needed is a radical reform that fully implements the prosecution system," the sources added. (ANSA).