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Italy claims ICC mishandled Libyan warlord's arrest warrant

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Italy claims ICC mishandled Libyan warlord's arrest warrant

Carlo Nordio argued that the ICC’s arrest warrant contained contradictions and procedural flaws, leading Italy’s courts to order Ossama al-Masri’s release.

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Italy’s justice minister vigorously defended the government’s decision to repatriate a Libyan warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), arguing on Wednesday that the court itself had made an “immense mess” of the case with an inconsistent and flawed arrest warrant.

Carlo Nordio told the lower house of the Italian parliament that he had acted cautiously regarding the 18 January warrant against Ossama Anjiem, also known as Ossama al-Masri, who is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Nordio said the Hague-based court had later “corrected, or rather completely overturned, the previous warrant” by amending the timeframe of al-Masri’s alleged offences.

“The court itself detected the errors and attempted to amend them five days later, because it realised that an immense mess was made,” Nordio told his colleagues.

The Italian government has faced sharp criticism from the ICC, human rights organisations, and opposition politicians for releasing al-Masri from detention on 21 January and deporting him to Libya on an Italian military aircraft.

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Al-Masri was detained in Turin on 19 January, a day after arriving from Germany to watch a football match. He heads the Tripoli branch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution, a network of detention centres controlled by the government-backed Special Defence Force.

The ICC warrant, published on the court’s website, accuses al-Masri of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed at Mitiga prison in Libya from 2015 onwards, including murder, torture, rape, and sexual violence — offences that carry a life sentence.

However, the Italian government insists that Rome’s court of appeal ordered his release due to a technical issue in how the ICC warrant was transmitted, as it initially bypassed the Italian justice ministry.

Nordio reiterated this argument, stating he had only received an “informal email of a few lines” from Interpol three hours after al-Masri’s arrest. He also pointed to contradictions in the original warrant, which initially stated the crimes occurred between 2015 and 2024, but in its conclusions, referred to offences committed from “2011 onwards”.

“An irreconcilable contradiction emerges regarding an essential element of the arrestee’s criminal conduct, regarding the time of the crime committed,” Nordio added.

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However, when the ICC publicly unsealed the warrant on 24 January, it issued an amended version to “correct certain typographical and clerical errors”. The updated document confirmed the timeframe as 2015-2024.

Accusations of breaching ICC obligations

Human rights groups have condemned Italy’s decision to repatriate al-Masri, calling it a major violation of its responsibilities as a founding member of the ICC.

Under Article 89 of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court in 1998, signatories are obligated to comply with arrest and surrender requests.

Opposition lawmakers have seized on the controversy to criticise Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, demanding she personally address parliament on the matter. During Wednesday’s session, they held up placards reading: “Meloni, patriot at large”.

Italy has strong ties with Libya’s internationally recognised government, whose help it relies on to curb migration across the Mediterranean from the North African coast.

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Critics have accused Meloni’s government of capitulating to pressure from Libyan militias, allegedly out of fears that had al-Masri been handed over to the ICC, they would retaliate by increasing the number of migrant boats sent towards Italy.

However, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, who also addressed parliament on Wednesday, dismissed any suggestion that al-Masri had acted as a government intermediary on migration issues. He also denied that Italy had received threats in connection with his arrest.

Opposition leader Elly Schlein of the Democratic Party sharply criticised Nordio’s defence, arguing that his legal justifications for dismissing the ICC warrant were misplaced.

“Minister Nordio, you didn’t speak to this chamber as a minister, but as the defence lawyer of a torturer,” Schlein said.

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Nordio’s critique of the ICC aligns with the government’s broader attempt to shift focus onto the judiciary’s handling of the case. Last week, Rome’s chief prosecutor informed Meloni, Nordio, Piantedosi, and another senior official that they were under investigation for allegedly facilitating irregular migration by repatriating al-Masri.

Meloni has spent days denouncing what she describes as political interference from Italy’s judiciary and defending the government’s decision, framing it as a matter of national security.

“When the security of the nation and the interests of Italians are in play, there is no room for backing down,” she wrote on X on 29 January.

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Top US Senate Democrat to block Trump DOJ nominees over Qatar airplane

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Top US Senate Democrat to block Trump DOJ nominees over Qatar airplane
U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday vowed to block all of President Donald Trump’s nominees to the Justice Department until the agency reports what it knows about Qatar’s offer to give Trump’s administration a $400 million airplane.
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Self-proclaimed 'king of Germany' arrested in plot to overthrow government

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Self-proclaimed 'king of Germany' arrested in plot to overthrow government

The self-styled “king” of Germany and three of his senior “subjects” were arrested for attempting to overthrow the state, according to media reports. 

Peter Fitzek, 59, was taken into police custody during morning raids conducted Tuesday in seven German states, the BBC reported. 

Fitzek’s group, the Reichsbürger, or “citizens of the Reich,” has also been banned by the government. 

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Peter Fitzek, the self-proclaimed head of the so-called “Kingdom of Germany,” poses for a photo with the kingdom’s constitution in Wittenberg, Germany, Oct. 23, 2023.   (Jens Schlueter/AFP via Getty Images)

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The group’s aim is to establish the Königreich Deutschland, or “Kingdom of Germany.”

“I have no interest in being part of this fascist and satanic system,” Fitzek previously told the news outlet in a 2022 interview.

Reichsbürgers reportedly have their own currency, flag and identification cards and want to set up separate banking and health systems.

The Reichsbürger undermined “the rule of law,” said Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s interior minister, by creating an alternative state and spreading “antisemitic conspiracy narratives to back up their supposed claim to authority,” the news report states. 

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Fake German currency

Peter Fitzek, the self-proclaimed head of the so-called “Kingdom of Germany,” shows the paper currency he created himself in Wittenberg, Germany, Oct. 23, 2023.  (Jens Schlueter/AFP)

He said the group finances itself through crime. 

Fitzek, who claims to have thousands of “subjects,” denied having violent intentions but also called Germany “destructive and sick.”

In 2022, dozens of people associated with the Reichsbürger were arrested for plotting to overthrow the German government in Berlin. They were accused of planning a violent coup, which included kidnapping the health minister in an effort to create “civil war conditions” to bring down German democracy, according to the BBC. 

Passports and IDs made by a German man accused of trying to overthrow the state

Self-made identity and banking documents of the so-called “Kingdom of Germany” are pictured in Wittenberg, Germany, Oct. 23, 2023. (Jens Schlueter/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Once dismissed as eccentric by critics, the group is now seen within Germany as a serious threat as the far right has grown politically over the past decade, the report said. 

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Costa calls for reforms in Bosnia to ensure EU membership progress

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Costa calls for reforms in Bosnia to ensure EU membership progress
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After his trip to Belgrade, European Council President António Costa visited Sarajevo on Tuesday as part of his Balkans tour. He was given a warm reception upon his arrival before meeting with Bosnia’s presidency.

In a statement, the European Council chief announced that the EU “remains committed” to the country’s European future. He also praised Željka Cvijanović, Denis Bećirović, and Željko Komšić — members of the Western Balkan country’s three-way presidency — for their role in maintaining stability and security in the country and the region.

Recently, tensions have been brewing domestically over the leader of the entity of the Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik’s actions, which the state-level authorities denounced for undermining the country’s constitutional order.

Western powers and the EU have condemned Dodik for his provocations after he had suggested that the Dayton Agreement, the peace agreement that formally ended the Bosnian War in 1995, had outlived its purpose.

In his statement, Costa underlined the importance of the Dayton accords, set to mark its 30th anniversary this year.

“And this year, on the 30th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide and the Dayton (and) Paris Agreement, I believe that it is an important message to remember,” said Costa.

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Costa also outlined that some reforms are needed to ensure Bosnia remains on the path to EU membership.

“We need the approval of two judiciary laws, the appointment of a chief negotiator, and the adoption of the reform agenda to move towards on the Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European path.”

Bosnia is the only country that does not benefit from the EU’s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. Costa stressed that implementing these reforms is of paramount importance to ensure that Bosnia’s citizens benefit from the EU plan.

“I would like to see Bosnia and Herzegovina joining the other Western Balkans partners in profiting from all that the European Union has to offer,” the Council president noted.

Costa will next travel to Montenegro and Albania on Wednesday, for meetings with President Jakub Milatović in Podgorica and President Bajram Begaj in Tirana. He’ll conclude his tour with a visit to Skopje in North Macedonia, where he will meet Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski.

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Additional sources • AP

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