Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede on
Wednesday survived two confidence tests in the Senate where a
centre-right no-confidence motion was rejected and a second
no-confidence motion, from the Bonino group, also failed.
The centre-right motion was rejected by 160 votes to 131 with
one abstention.
The Bonino motion was rejected by 158 votes to 124 with 19
abstentions.
The motions were rejected after the centrist Italia Viva (IV)
party voted against them, a move that had been in doubt until
shortly before the vote.
Bonafede's 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-left
Democratic Party (PD) had warned their government partner IV,
led by ex-premier Matteo Renzi, that the government would be
plunged into crisis if the minister were to be 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.
In a speech to the Senate ahead of the vote, Bonafede said
it was "false" that he had "opened the doors for dangerous
inmates".
He said most of the mafiosi had been granted house arrest
under previous regulations, dating back 50 years.
Bonafede said 256 inmates convicted of serious crimes and let
out for COVID fears would return to face a judge because of the
government's latest decree on the issue, the second of two.
He denied reports that as many as 497 dangerous inmates had
been released.
Bonafede also said there had been no pressure placed on the
government over the prison service appointment and he had
"cleared away the pseudo doubts" of his critics.
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