Elmasry’s Release and Other Mysteries: the investigation against Meloni’s failure to act on an ICC mandate
By Flavia Faraone, 3 minute read
On January 27th, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced that she was under investigation for the liberation of Njeim Osama Elmasry, the head of the Libyan judiciary police. Elmasry had been liberated the previous week, under very unconventional circumstances.
Elmasry was arrested in Turin on January 19th. The International Criminal Court had released an international arrest mandate against him over accusations of homicide, torture, rape and other serious crimes committed while he was managing the Mitiga prison in Libya. He was, however, freed three days after his arrest. He was even flown back to Libya on an Italian State airplane.
As can be expected, the Italian government’s decision was met with outrage. The ICC itself harshly criticized Italy’s decision. It released a statement saying that it hadn’t been notified or consulted on Italy’s decision to liberate Elmasry, as protocol would call for in these cases. Moreover, it declared that Italy had given no explanation for its decision, despite being asked for one.
The Italian opposition parties also questioned the government as to why it decided to liberate an internationally wanted person, shortly after his arrest. The fundamental argument driving opposition criticisms is that the government liberated Elmasry to maintain friendly relations with the government of Tripoli, with which it stipulated an agreement in 2017 to limit the flow of migrants coming to Italy via the sea.
Meloni also stated that the Italian Ministers of Internal Affairs and Justice are under investigation along with her. In the video where she announced the ongoing investigation against her, she also sternly defended herself. In a subsequent statement, the Italian government declared that its action was motivated by the fact that Elmasry is a dangerous man, who is head of a violent Libyan militia. However, commentators pointed out that the Italian government has had relations with Elmasry’s militia for years.
Overall, the liberation of Elmasry has placed the Italian government in a precarious position, but has also brought back an issue which never really resolved itself: that of the treatment of illegal immigrants coming to Europe. The task of handling relations with third countries on the issue is up to the single EU Member States; moreover, the ICC has no enforcement tools for its decisions, meaning single countries have ample liberties on the matter. The lack of transparency surrounding the decision might indeed be linked to almost decade-old agreements that keep borders stable at the expense of human dignity, freedom, and even lives. While Giorgia Meloni defends the government’s actions as a necessary measure to manage security concerns around one person, it might be wise to keep in mind the interconnectedness of the issues at hand, and not lose sight of the direct chain of events which led a European country to breach international customs in order to safeguard its relationship with human trafficking militia.
