Premier Giuseppe Conte's government faces a big test on Wednesday when Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede is put to two motions of no-confidence in parliament.
Bonafede's 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) have warned another government partner, ex-premier Matteo Renzi's centrist Italia VIva (IV) party, that the government will be plunged into crisis if the minister is ousted, Bonafede has come under fire over the COVID-related release of hundreds of mafiosi from prison and over the alleged failure to appoint anti-mafia prosecutor Nino Di Matteo head of the prison service in 2018.
Bonafede stressed there had been "no government interference" in the courts' decisions to release to house arrest the mafia bosses and mafiosi, most of them seriously ill.
He said that government decrees that have since been approved would clamp down on such releases, and would bring many of he mafiosi back to jail after reassessing their health issues.
On Di Matteo, Bonafede said he had decided in 2018 not to name him head of the prison service so he could take on a role once held by late anti-mafia crusading magistrate Giovanni Falcone.
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