No one is above the law - Mattarella

(ANSA) - Rome, September 12 - President Sergio Mattarella said no one is above the law on Wednesday, adding that Italy's judiciary is no less legitimate because its members are not elected. "No citizen is above the law," Mattarella said at the Lower House during an event celebrating the memory of former head of State Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.
    "The republic and its democracy and presided over by rules, the respect of which is indispensable, always, no matter what the intention is of those of propose breaking them. "Elected judges do not exist in our system. Our magistrates derive their legitimacy and authoritativeness from the role given to them by the Constitution.
    "So they are not called upon to following electoral orientations, they must apply the law and its rules".
    Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini was at the centre of controversy last week over statements he made after he was notified he was being probed for aggravated kidnapping for refusing to allow a group of migrants saved by the Coast Guard to disembark for 10 days and his comments about a ruling on the seizure of funds from his League party over a fraud case.