if this is not obstruction of justice under art.70, nothing is, @KarimKhanQC On January 28, the head of the AISE, Giovanni Caravelli, flew to Tripoli to meet the Libyan Prime Minister and the Chief Prosecutor. He revealed to them the secret names of the Libyans wanted by the International Criminal Court, to avoid new Almasri cases. Caravelli informed those of these names who will be able to travel to Italy without the risk of being arrested. The Hague has issued 86 warrants against as many commanders of Libyan militia. The judges' decision not to make the names public is intended to facilitate the arrest of the wanted, taking advantage of the surprise effect. The revelation of the secret could further complicate relations between Italy and the Court in The Hague. (Il Foglio)

RT @front_LEX: Good news: the #ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber opens investigation vs. Italy in the #Meloni-#Almasri case!…

Good news: ICC opens inquiry against Italy in the #Almasri case! One correction to the Court's statement though: Article 70 has nothing to do with a simple "contempt of court", but with crimes of "obstruction of justice", for which the Court may impose a term of imprisonment of up to 5 years.

"It seems to us that Meloni is in a vice. Either Italian justice will intervene, or the International Criminal Court will take over", this is what lawyer Juan Branco, one of the lawyers assisting the Sudanese refugee who filed a complaint with the ICC in The Hague accusing the Italian government of having freed Libyan General Almasri, told @LaStampa. The 23-page complaint, which LaStampa has seen, names Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, who are defined as "suspects" and accused of having "obstructed the administration of justice pursuant to Article 70 of the Rome Statute". In addition to Juan Branco, a lawyer specializing in criminal and international law, the Sudanese refugee is also represented by the lawyer @shatzomer, legal director of the NGO @front_LEX. On the Almasri issue, a complaint was filed on February 5 in The Hague on behalf of a Sudanese refugee against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and ministers Carlo Nordio and Matteo Piantedosi for having obstructed the administration of justice by failing to hand over the Libyan general. An international arrest warrant for Nijeem Osama Almasri had been pending for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Mittiga prison, near Tripoli, since February 2011. In that prison under his command, according to documents from The Hague, 34 people were killed and a child raped.

grazie @ilmanifesto for this interview, below a translation to English 👇 "There is a strategy of delegitimization underway that undermines the international order" Omer Shatz, the lawyer of the human rights association @front_LEX who denounced #Meloni, #Nordio and #Piantedosi For the Franco-Israeli lawyer Omer Shatz, international judicial institutions are a terribly serious thing: "The fundamental charter of the Court in The Hague is called the Rome Statute. And it is the Italian government itself that declares 'we don't care about the Court'", he explains excitedly on the phone. Shatz, a professor at Sciences Po, the institute of political studies in Paris, is co-founder and legal director of @front_LEX, the association of human rights lawyers that on February 5 filed a complaint against Italy with the the #ICC, the latest measure in a series of acts in the context of the investigations on Libya followed by the institution. “Carlo Nordio was aware that he was the only Italian representative capable of interfacing with the Court, and the judges placed their trust in the commitments made by Italy,” Shatz continues. “It seems, however, that they were wrong.” The document... by a refugee from Darfur, whom the lawyer’s firm had represented in other cases against Italy and the EU, highlights how the Elmasry case is only the latest piece in the horrifying mosaic of Libyan hell. In the complaint filed in The Hague, Mr. Shatz, you cite the names of representatives of the Italian government, including Giorgia Meloni, Carlo Nordio and Matteo Piantedosi. Where does this complaint come from? "The Italian government acted like a trafficker, orchestrating the escape of the suspect Elmasry. The version provided by Ministers Nordio and Piantedosi to the press and in Parliament presents a series of incredible contradictions, both in terms of the dynamics and the timing. Based on art. 70 of the Rome Statute, which penalizes obstruction of international justice, we believe that the Italian government has committed at least five crimes." Why, in your opinion, did Italy agree to run such a high risk by letting Elmasry escape? "The Italian government actively collaborates with Libyan officials who could end up indicted, such as the members of the Libyan Coast Guard who first pushed back our client from Darfur and then took him on board towards Italy. Although Elmasry is a relatively small fish, the system of relations with Italy and the mechanism for pushing back migrants could also have been explained in detail to the ICC prosecutor." It must be said, however, that the Court has a history of acts that have been ignored or disregarded, because it must rely on national judicial systems, which often put politics before law. What is your opinion on this matter? "To be fair, since its establishment, the Court in The Hague has issued only a handful of sentences and those convicted are figures of little global importance. However, with the indictment of Israeli leaders, it seems that the ICC is aiming higher, which is why this case cannot go unpunished. The very mission of the Court is at stake: for countries that look askance at the Criminal Court, this represents a dangerous precedent. If Italy, historically among the ICC's biggest supporters, ignores one of its provisions, then everyone will feel authorized to do the same." What is your opinion on the sanctions imposed by Trump and on Israel's declared war on the Court? "They are part of a broader strategy of delegitimization, aimed at undermining the international order established after the Second World War. In this context, the ICC represents the embodiment of the principle of universal protection of human rights, independent of national policies, developed in recent decades"

Talked with the @BBCNews on Trump's Executive Order against the @IntlCrimCourt and the 1st ICC case on #Incitement to Genocide.

My interview with @Raiofficialnews TV on the #Meloni-#Almasri case is available online: "They are his victims, those who feel most humiliated and disappointed by the conduct of the Italian government, because they are the ones who wanted to see Almasri judged and tried." This was stated to ANSA by lawyer Omer Shatz, legal director of @front_LEX , the organization of human rights lawyers that filed a complaint... in The Hague, on behalf of a Sudanese refugee, against Giorgia Meloni, Carlo Nordio and Matteo Piantedosi for having obstructed the administration of justice pursuant to Article 70 of the Rome Statute of the ICC."

Grazie @Agenzia_Ansa for this long interview on the #Meloni-#Almasri case: The victims' lawyer accuses: 'Rome’s criminal operation' "This is a political decision to hide the complicity of the Italian State and the EU in the crimes committed in Libya and in the Mediterranean against migrants". For the lawyer Omer Shatz there is no doubt about the reasons that pushed Rome not to execute the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against the head of the Libyan judicial police, Almasri. Those reasons were written down in black and white by the legal director of @front_LEX, the organization of human rights lawyers at the forefront of defending the victims of migration policies, in the complaint he filed with the judges in The Hague on behalf of a Sudanese refugee against Giorgia Meloni, Carlo Nordio and Matteo Piantedosi. The accusation is that they obstructed the course of justice by releasing the Libyan commander and repatriating him to Tripoli. What was carried out by Italy is "a criminal operation", the lawyer states bluntly, and is now considering filing other complaints with The Hague on behalf of some of Almasri's victims, on which charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity are pending. "They are the ones who feel most humiliated and disappointed by the conduct of the Italian government, because they are the ones who first wanted to see Almasri judged and tried", he explains to ANSA. Abuse, violence, torture. The manual of horrors in migrant detention centers in Libya has been known for years, denounced not only by the media and activists, but also by the ICC and the UN Human Rights Council. The latter, Shatz recalls, sent a fact-finding mission to Libya in March 2023 and in its conclusions states that "Italian and EU officials are aiding and abetting crimes against humanity". And it is to hide this complicity that Rome, according to the lawyer, rushed to put Almasri on a state plane and rush him back to Tripoli: "They are extraditing Almasri because he is their counterpart, he is their partner in a criminal enterprise, that of stemming migration at all costs and these are the costs". Human costs, but also political and legal ones. Moreover, at a delicate moment for the Hague Court, which is about to be sanctioned by the United States for its investigations against Israel in Gaza. "This is not about Almasri and it is not just about Italy. This is about the ICC itself and the serious threat that this affair poses to the international legal order", Shatz points out. "In this tug of war - the lawyer reasons - someone will have to lose. If the Court is not able to prosecute those who openly challenge its arrest warrant, it will lose credibility. Almasri is the smaller fish, what happens with Putin or Netanyahu? That's why it's risky".

I understand the tantrum of certain Italian officials. They have good reasons to panic. But undermining their own national legal system, calling to investigate Italian judges, and even to investigate ICC judges, they got a bit confused. It is the other way around. It is a long ride. But in the end more than 175,000 victims will hold Italian and other EU nationals for Crimes Against Humanity in the Central Mediterranean and Libya. #Almasri

RT @Arfxyz: Good morning @shatzomer and thank you for your early report and analysis on @BBCNews with @TadhgEnright

RT @Corriere: Caso Almasri, una denuncia alla Corte dell'Aia contro il governo italiano. Nordio: «Dispiace sia libero per un errore formale…

RT @nelloscavo: +++ #Almasri, fascicolo all'Aja sull'operato del governo italiano +++ Sul tavolo del procuratore internazionale l'accusa a…

RT @nelloscavo: Vedo una certa corsa a smentire senza smentire, quando anche la l'Ufficio del Procuratore dell'Aja dice che "non commenta".…