(ANSA) – ROME, FEB 6 – Justice Minister Carlo Nordio on Thursday said he was sorry Libyan general Osama Almasri had been freed due to a formal mistake made by the International Criminal Court, which issued an international arrest warrant against the judicial police chief for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, adding however that courts exist because they respect rules.
“I would like each person who has committed a crime to be judged and, if found guilty, sentenced and the term to be executed according to rules and procedures”, the minister told the Rai radio 1 program Un Giorno da Pecora.
Nordio went on to say tha Almasri had been described as a “torturer” by members of the opposition when he had reported to the House and Senate on the case of his controversial January 22 release and flight back to Libya on a secret services plane, “regardless of the faulty (arrest) warrant” issued by the ICC.
“But if we followed such criteria, not even the court of Nuremberg”, the first international war crimes tribunal that tried leading Nazis, “would make sense: tribunals exist because they must respect rules”.
“The idea that a torturer must be punished as such regardless of the respect of rules means delegitimizing the very existence of international tribunals”, noted the justice minister.
In his address to Parliament on Wednesday, Nordio attacked Interpol, claiming it had delivered the warrant against Almasri informally, without including an extradition request, and said the ICC warrant was void because it included a number of mistakes, such as the dates in which some alleged crimes were committed.
Nordio also told the radio program “everybody in this world is investigating a bit of everything”, adding he had “confidence in human justice”, when asked by the radio hosts about a probe reportedly opened by the International criminal Court against the Italian government after a criminal complaint filed by a refugee who says he was a victim of Almasri. (ANSA).
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“I would like each person who has committed a crime to be judged and, if found guilty, sentenced and the term to be executed according to rules and procedures”, the minister told the Rai radio 1 program Un Giorno da Pecora.
Nordio went on to say tha Almasri had been described as a “torturer” by members of the opposition when he had reported to the House and Senate on the case of his controversial January 22 release and flight back to Libya on a secret services plane, “regardless of the faulty (arrest) warrant” issued by the ICC.
“But if we followed such criteria, not even the court of Nuremberg”, the first international war crimes tribunal that tried leading Nazis, “would make sense: tribunals exist because they must respect rules”.
“The idea that a torturer must be punished as such regardless of the respect of rules means delegitimizing the very existence of international tribunals”, noted the justice minister.
In his address to Parliament on Wednesday, Nordio attacked Interpol, claiming it had delivered the warrant against Almasri informally, without including an extradition request, and said the ICC warrant was void because it included a number of mistakes, such as the dates in which some alleged crimes were committed.
Nordio also told the radio program “everybody in this world is investigating a bit of everything”, adding he had “confidence in human justice”, when asked by the radio hosts about a probe reportedly opened by the International criminal Court against the Italian government after a criminal complaint filed by a refugee who says he was a victim of Almasri. (ANSA).
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