(By Christopher Livesay)
The Lower House on Wednesday
approved an amendment to a bill incorporating a European
regulation into Italian law that, if it wins final approval,
will make it possible to prosecute magistrates in civil courts
for bad decisions made carrying out their duties.
Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD)
said the controversial measure will be stripped from the bill
when it goes to the Senate.
Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has been at the centre of
dozens of criminal cases and is currently doing a year of
community service for a tax-fraud conviction, has frequently
called for it be possible to sue magistrates for their
decisions.
The amendment was not proposed by Berlusconi's opposition
centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, but by his allies in the
right-wing Northern League.
The amendment was immediately criticized by Italy's
national magistrates' association (ANM), who called it
"unConstitutional".
"It is a serious and contradictory move that weakens the
judiciary at the very moment when it is called upon to work
against corruption," the group said.
ANM President Rodolfo Sabelli said that the statute would
harm judicial independence and "condition" judges due to its
ability to "intimidate".
He warned of its potential to be used as a way to "get rid
of judges deemed unlikely to rule" as the plaintiff or defendant
would like.
Sabelli said that the unConstitutional nature of the
regulation was "so clear that I don't think it will pass. But
the signal it sends is worrisome: that of weakening the
judiciary" at the very moment when anti-corruption measures are
called for.
His comments were seen as a reference to two major
corruption scandals unfolding in the country, which include an
investigation into alleged bid-rigging at the 2015 World's Fair
in Milan, and an even larger probe into a suspected political
bribery scheme in the construction of Venice's MOSE flood
barriers.
In the latter, 35 people have been arrested, including the
mayor of Venice, while several former ministers have been placed
under investigation, one of whom - Senator Giancarlo Galan - may
also be arrested if the Senate approves lifting his
parliamentary immunity.
They are accused of skimming 25 million euros in taxpayer
funds and channeling them through political campaigns.
Italy's anti-corruption czar Raffaele Cantone echoed
Sabelli's concerns on Wednesday, warning that he does not yet
have enough resources or authority to properly fight the
problem.
Speaking to a conference at the foreign ministry, the
former anti-mafia prosecutor said that the face of corruption
has become more mainstream and less obviously criminal.
In an indirect reference to the amendment, Italian
President Giorgio Napolitano stressed later on Wednesday that
judicial independence was "not merely a privilege".
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