Italian judges dismiss Meloni case over Libyan suspect release

An Italian judicial body has dropped a case against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had been placed under investigation following the release of a Libyan police officer wanted by the International Criminal Court, she said on Monday.

Osama Elmasry Njeem was freed in January and flown home in an Italian state aircraft just days after being detained in the northern city of Turin under an ICC arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and rape.

The head of Libya’s judicial police was arrested in Turin on 19 January on a warrant from the ICC, only to be released by a Rome court on procedural grounds.

Critics denounced the decision to free a man wanted on charges including murder, rape and torture relating to his management of Tripoli’s Mitiga detention centre.

“The judges dismissed the case only against me,” Meloni said in a post on social media X. She was under investigation for allegedly aiding and abetting a crime and misuse of public funds.

Meloni added that based on the document she received, magistrates will pursue the case against Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Cabinet Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, who had been placed under investigation with her.

“I maintain that this government acts cohesively under my leadership: every decision, especially one so important, is agreed upon. It is therefore absurd to request that Piantedosi, Nordio and Mantovano stand trial, but not myself, before them,” Meloni wrote on X.

The ICC has been investigating allegations of serious crimes committed in Libya since the country’s 2011 civil war, following a referral by the UN Security Council.

Justice Minister Nordio told parliament in February that Italy had no choice but to free Elmasry due to mistakes and inaccuracies in the arrest warrant.