The Lower House on Wednesday
definitively approved a bill drafted by Justice Minister Carlo
Nordio to reform Italy's criminal justice system with 199 votes
in favour, 102 votes against and no abstentions.
The measure, which among other things contains the repeal of the
crime of abuse of office and changes to the wiretapping system,
had already been approved by the Senate in February.
Nordio has said Italy's mayors, even opposition ones, will
"toast" the scrapping of the abuse of office felony, which has
led to countless case, many of them frivolous or merely
technical prosecutions, which eventually ended in acquittals
over recent years.
He said the new law would enable an "organic" reform of
wiretapping to make sure sensitive information with no relevance
to cases was no longer leaked to the embarrassment of people who
were not charged with any crime.
Nordio also said a solution would be found for mothers in prison
after the rightwing League party filed an amendment, which was
approved, aimed at stopping pregnant or young mother Roma bag
snatchers on Rome and Milan metro systems.
In a separate, Constitutional bill, Nordio is aiming to separate
the career paths of judges and prosecutors so that they can no
longer switch roles over the course of their careers.
Opposition parties and magistrates union ANM say the measure
aims at bringing prosecutors under government control.
Nordio and Premier Giorgia Meloni have denied that this is their
intention.
They have said that the independence and autonomy of the Italian
judiciary will continue to be paramount.
Nordio recently hailed his reform of the judiciary's career
paths, which stops prosecutors and judges from switching between
roles, as a "historic measure" after it was approved by cabinet
and again dismissed assertions that it was an attempt to
increase the government's power over prosecutors.
"The judiciary is an autonomous (professional) order,
independent of any other power, and it is composed of the
magistrates on the judging career path and those on the
prosecuting career path," Nordio said of his Constitutional
reform bill, which will probably end up being put to a popular
referendum.
"We have given Constitutional importance to the fact that a
prosecutor's office is, must be, and will remain, independent of
any interference by the executive power, and of any pressure
from other bodies.
"It enjoys, and will continue to enjoy, the same guarantees of
independence as a judging magistrate".
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