UN EXPERT WELCOMES ITALIAN PRESIDENT’S DECISION TO SEND JUDICIAL REFORMS BACK TO PARLIAMENT

17 December 2004



The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Leandro Despouy, expresses his satisfaction at the decision of Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi not to ratify a judicial reform bill recently approved by the country’s Parliament, deciding instead to send the bill back to lawmakers.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Ciampi on 15 December 2004, the Special Rapporteur had written, “The reforms represent a worrying limitation to the guarantees of independence that, for over a decade now, have been considered to be key features of the Italian judiciary and have conferred upon Italy an enviable international prestige and moral authority, and served as a model to other countries”.

The Special Rapporteur was especially concerned by the following reforms:

· The establishment of a Chief Prosecutor having the power to assign to, and withdraw from, cases to Deputy-Prosecutors, and the role to be played by the Minister of Justice in his/her nomination, which will have the effect to reduce the autonomy of Deputy-Prosecutors and pave the way for possible Government nterference.
· The weakening of the role and powers of the Higher Judicial Council (CSM), the independent body in charge of administering and controlling the judiciary.
· The way in which exams are to be reintroduced, with potential negative impact on an already serious judicial backlog. In addition, the CSM will loose part of its constitutional competence over the promotion of magistrates, based on qualification and merit, and the risk exists that exams may be used as a means for unduly interfering with magistrates’ career.
· The powers newly attributed to the Executive over the Judiciary, especially the role of the Minister of Justice in disciplinary proceedings, are in conflict with the principle of independence of the judiciary and, in the future, are likely to result in undue Executive interference in the disciplinary process and decisions affecting judges.

“I am concerned that, instead of reducing the tensions that have existed since the judiciary began investigating corrupt practices among public officials and prosecuting several politicians, the reforms would have only further aggravated the situation between judges and magistrates”, the Special Rapporteur wrote. “A reason for this may be that the above concerns and the views of magistrates’ associations have been largely disregarded”.

The Special Rapporteur welcomes the President’s decision to veto the proposed reform and hopes this will re-launch the reform process, allowing for further consultation with all sectors concerned, including experts in constitutional law, to approve reforms that are consistent with international norms and principles of an independent judiciary and which preserve Italy’s reputation of high judicial standards.