Italian PM Meloni under investigation over release of Libyan kingpin

Rome — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday she had been placed under judicial investigation after a government decision to release a Libyan police officer wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Osama Elmasry Njeem was freed last week and flown home by 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.

The ICC has demanded an explanation, saying it had not been consulted over the decision.

Meloni said in a message posted on social media that she had been placed under investigation for allegedly aiding and abetting a crime and misuse of public funds.

She is under no obligation to resign, and being placed under investigation does not imply guilt, nor mean that formal charges will necessarily follow.

“I will not be blackmailed, I will not allow myself to be intimidated, which may be why I am, let’s say, disliked by those who do not want Italy to change and become better,” Meloni said in a video posted on her Facebook profile.

Justice minister Carlo Nordio, interior minister Matteo Piantedosi and the cabinet undersecretary for intelligence matters, Alfredo Mantovano, have also been placed under investigation, Meloni said.

She said she believed the investigation had been triggered by Luigi Li Gotti, a lawyer who announced last week that he had lodged a complaint over the release of Njeem and the use of an official jet to fly him back to Tripoli.

Meloni also said the case was being led by the same prosecutor who investigated deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini in Sicily for allegedly kidnapping 100 migrants aboard a boat that he had blocked at sea for nearly three weeks in 2019.

Salvini was acquitted in that case last month.

Reuters