Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday, January 28, said she and two of her ministers were under investigation after a Libyan official wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes was released and repatriated.
She made the announcement in a video on Facebook and said the probe was politically motivated. Meloni defended the expulsion of the Libyan police chief Osama Najim, asking why the ICC only issued the warrant as he entered Italy after "spending a dozen calm days in three other European countries."
Najim, head of the Libyan judicial police, was detained 10 days ago in a Turin hotel on an arrest warrant from the ICC. He was released a few days later on procedural grounds by a Rome appeals court, and flown to Libya on an Italian government plane.
Investigative magistrates suspect Meloni and Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi facilitated Najim's release.
Meloni has frequently accused magistrates, particularly Rome prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi, of being biased against her government. She noted that he was the prosecutor in the trial of deputy head of government Matteo Salvini for stranding migrants at sea while he was interior minister in 2019. He was found not guilty.
Italian judges are obliged to open an investigation following the filing of a complaint, allowing the persons targeted by the probe to hire a lawyer.
Najim is accused by the ICC of having committed crimes in Libya against detainees.