Justice Minister Andrea Orlando
told ANSA on Wednesday that the government doesn't intend to
"delegitimise" the judiciary, regarding a probe by the Potenza
judiciary into a southern Italian oil project that led to the
resignation of Italy's industry minister last week.
On Monday, Premier Matteo Renzi said that some
investigations by the Potenza judiciary had "Olympics-like
timing" and "never resulted in a verdict" - comments that
magistrates' union ANM on Tuesday called "inopportune", but that
Orlando said had no intention of putting the legitimacy of the
judiciary into question.
"Renzi's comments aren't an impromptu position, but rather
a political stance that we've maintained from the beginning,
that aims for a rationalisation and simplification of criminal
law procedure, a deflationary strategy, and a review of the
statute of limitations mechanism," Orlando said.
"All of which are elements that don't seem to me to have
figured, or have the possibility to figure, in any way with a
desire to deligitimise the judiciary," he said.
Meanwhile, a preliminary investigative judge questioned
Rosaria Vicino, former mayor of Corleto Perticara in the region
of Basilicata, who is implicated in the probe and remained
silent during questioning at the Potenza courthouse.
Vicino - a member of Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) -
and her former deputy mayor, Giambattista Genovese, both
refrained from responding during interrogations on Wednesday.
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