Of Editorial team
The question that is being asked by many people concerns precisely what is happening now that the Agrigento prosecutor has included the Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini and his head of cabinet in the register of suspects for “kidnapping”, following the eight-day ban on the disembarkation of migrants from the Diciotti ship. Meanwhile, the first thing that happens is political: the League triples its popular consensus and is preparing for a hot autumn for economic issues as the only centre-right political force. The second is of a technical nature and, also given the compactness of the government around Salvini, will bring, in our opinion, to a probable archiving. Come? Here are the procedures:

Salvini under investigation, documents to the Court of Ministers: times and precedents

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has been under investigation since last night (together with his chief of staff) by the Agrigento prosecutor's office for the affair of the Diciotti ship: will have to answer for kidnapping crimes, illegal arrest and abuse of office. The documents will be transmitted to the Court of Ministers which is the guarantee body called to judge the conduct of the institutional office. The procedure to reach the judgment is laborious and also involves a parliamentary vote.
Specialized section
The Court of Ministers is a specialized section of the ordinary court competent for crimes committed by the Prime Minister and ministers in the exercise of their functions. The article 96 of the Constitution establishes that «the President of the Council of Ministers and the ministers, even if they have ceased to hold office, are subjected, for crimes committed in the exercise of their functions, to ordinary jurisdiction, subject to authorization from the Senate of the Republic or the Chamber of Deputies, according to the rules established by constitutional law". According to the two laws that govern the matter, Therefore, any investigation into the actions of the Minister of the Interior immediately becomes the responsibility of the "Court of Ministers".
Investigations and decision within 90 days
The reports, the reports and reports for ministerial crimes are sent to the public prosecutor at the court of the capital of the district court of appeal competent for the territory (in this case the Palermo Prosecutor's Office), which – without carrying out any type of investigation – must transmit the documents to the court of ministers within fifteen days and immediately notify the interested parties, so that they can present briefs or ask to be heard. Documents received, the tribunal of ministers within ninety days, preliminary investigations were carried out and the public prosecutor was consulted, can decide on archiving – in which case the decree cannot be challenged – or the transmission of the documents with a reasoned report to the Public Prosecutor, to request authorization to proceed.
Parliament's vote
Authorization is requested from the Chamber to which the suspects belong, even if some of them are not members of parliament. The competent Camera (in the case of Salvini, senator, it will be Palazzo Madama) – on the basis of the investigation conducted by the specific council – can deny, by absolute majority, authorization where deemed necessary, with unquestionable evaluation, that the person under investigation acted for the protection of a constitutionally relevant State interest or for the pursuit of a pre-eminent public interest. Once authorization to proceed has been obtained, the first instance judgment falls to the ordinary court of the capital of the district court of appeal competent for the territory. Non, but, to the court of ministers; On the contrary, the members of the latter, at the time he carried out his investigations, they cannot participate in the further stages of the procedure. For appeals and further levels of judgement, the rules of the criminal procedure code apply.
Alfano's precedent
One of the latest cases addressed by the Court of Ministers concerned the head of Foreign Affairs of the previous government, Angelino Alfano. In May of 2017 the Court had accepted the request for dismissal that the Rome Prosecutor's Office had formulated for the facts reported by three deputies of the Five Star Movement (Michele Dell'Orco, Carlo Sibilia and Niccolò Paolo Romano) to the detriment of Alfano, regarding the use of state flights. In the reasons for accepting the request for dismissal by the public prosecutor it was stated that Minister Alfano «is authorized to use, for safety reasons, of state flights for travel within the national territory and abroad".
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