Justice Undersecretary Andrea
Delmastro's newspaper interview Friday has shown the government
wants to put prosecutors under the control of the executive,
magistrates union ANM said Friday.
The government has consistently denied the ANM's claims that
this is the ultimate goal of a planned reform separating the
career paths of judges and prosecutors so they can no longer
switch between the two.
In his interview with Il Foglio, Delmastro says that with the
reform on the separation of careers "either we go all the way
and bring the prosecutor under the executive, as happens in many
countries, or we take away his power to push investigations
forward."
ANM Secretary Rocco Maruotti observed: "With today's
declarations of the undersecretary Andrea Delmastro, the
government has dropped the mask: this reform alone is not enough
and it will be necessary to bring the public prosecutor under
the directives of the Executive power or at least take away the
power of initiating investigations from the public prosecutor.
"From today therefore it will be more difficult for the
government to continue to maintain that the reform will have no
consequences, as the ANM has been maintaining from the
beginning.
"This reform, in addition to not improving justice, will only
serve to subject magistrates to the control of the government:
now it is even clearer. "The words of the Undersecretary of
Justice introduce an important element of clarity".
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's reform plan will have to be put
to a popular referendum after it has been approved by
parliament.
photo: Delmastro (R) with Nordio
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