Rome’s prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and two government ministers for repatriating a Libyan warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Meloni announced the launch of an investigation into alleged complicity with Osama Najim, also known as Osama al-Masri in a video posted on social media.
Meloni said Interior and Justice Ministers Matteo Piantedosi and Carlo Nordio, as well as State Secretary of the Council of Ministers Alfredo Mantovano, are suspects in the case along with her.
Italy’s prime minister added that she does not give in to blackmail and will defend citizens and the country’s security.
Meloni’s government has been under attack from the opposition, human rights groups and the ICC itself for releasing al-Masri on a technicality after he was arrested in the northern city of Turin on an international court warrant.
Najim was arrested on January 20 in Turin, where he had travelled to attend a football match between Juventus and Milan. In Libya, he held the posts of head of the judicial police and head of Mitiga prison. The ICC has accused the general of war crimes and crimes against humanity. On January 22, Najim had been released.
Italy’s Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote on X:
“The recipe of Meloni and company is always the same: conspiracy and sacrifice, from trains to migrants. Don’t let yourself be distracted: they do it to avoid talking about their mistakes and the real problems of citizens, the cuts in wages, zero solutions to the cost of living and the industrial crisis. Regarding the Libyan criminal case, one thing is already clear: the government has created a serious political disaster by constructing lies and different versions without explaining to us in any meaningful way why they put a Libyan criminal on a state flight at our expense and with all honours instead of handing him over to the International Criminal Court.”
