It is well known that he was a tireless supporter of the untouchability of magistrates, but that he entered the field with two interviews (Evening Courier e Daily fact) to attack the interference of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was less predictable. Gian Carlo Caselliformer prosecutor of Palermo and Turin retired since December 2013, wasted no time in putting himself at the forefront to defend the actions of the prosecutors of processo Open Arms. And to reiterate that politics must not allow itself to criticize judges. It is one of his hobbyhorses, a hobbyhorse he has flaunted throughout his career. Suffice it to say that in 2021 he opposed without hesitation the idea of setting up a parliamentary commission of inquiry into judiciary.
The words of the prime minister, who spoke of a “very serious precedent” and said she was incredulous about the request for six years in prison for the leader of the League, were labeled as a bold statement. “If Meloni intervenes with both feet in an ongoing trial, you have to be something more than an intellectually honest judge to do your job, in the only country in the world where politics does not accept being judged”, claims Caselli. Who then doubles down by speaking of an “institutional imbalance”, and explaining that “whoever does their duty even towards a politician, investigating him for this or that crime, ends up in the dock and is paradoxically accused of doing politics”.
Perhaps it should be remembered that there are quite a few cases of politicized magistrates or that once they took off their toga they went into politics. Or that in the never-ending clash between the judiciary and politics, politics has certainly paid the highest price, between investigations and acquittals. But Caselli has issued his sentence: “That comment has anomalous effects in the sense that the judge in question is required, in addition to normal intellectual honesty and professional preparation, to have an extra dose of combativeness and courage to exercise his role. All of this can disturb his serenity and independence”.
On the other hand, the toga has collected criticisms of the alleged gag law, of the nomination of Chiara Colosimo to the president of the anti-mafia commission, to the law on legitimate defense, to the crackdown on wiretapping (“I think that everything that is needed for the trial should be public. What may apparently look outside the box can actually be useful for understanding the context that affects the evidence”).
Caselli was also supported by theAnm. In fact, the Executive Committee of the Palermo Section declared in a note: “Insinuations of political use of justice and inappropriate reactions have been made against representatives of the State in the Public Prosecution, even by political and government representatives.
These are serious statements, not appropriate to the functions exercised, in open violation of the principle of separation of powers, indifferent to the rules that govern the process, that undermine trust in democratic institutions and that constitute undue forms of pressure on the judging magistrates. The Court will evaluate the validity of the accusation, with independence and impartiality, guided only by scrupulous compliance with all the rules in force on the matter”.
