(ANSA) - Bari, October 23 - Rodolfo Sabelli, the head of the national association of magistrates (ANM), complained Friday more attention was devoted to investigators use of wiretaps than on the problem of defeating the mafia. "The wiretaps issue has become so central that it gets more attention that the structural problems and endemic criminal phenomena," Sabelli said.
Sabelli also complained Friday that tensions with the nation's political class were delegitimizing the judiciary. Magistrates union ANM has clashed with Premier Matteo Renzi's executive over its justice reforms and in the past there were high-voltage rows with three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi, who repeated blamed political-motivated left wing elements in the judiciary for being behind criminal cases against him. "The dynamics are less inflamed but more complex," Sabelli said, complaining of an "conscious strategy of delegitimization" depicting the ANM was "corporation aiming to defend its privileges".
Rodolfo Sabelli criticised government efforts to bolster the fight against rampant corruption as "timid".
Sabelli said the "timid" legislative interventions on graft were "inconsistent" with the decision to increase the punishments for some common crimes. He said this smacked of being a form of "yielding to superficial appetites for justice". He described a government bill extending the statute of limitations on some felonies, including corruption ones, was "disappointing".