Trump and Meloni give free rein to war criminals
The European Green Party strongly condemns the disturbing pattern of far-right leaders subverting international justice, after both President Trump and Prime Minister Meloni took actions to undermine the International Criminal Court (ICC).
US President Donald Trump's sanctions against people working on ICC investigations have come just three weeks after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni released Libyan General Osama Elmasry Njeem, who had been arrested under an international arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture, rape and murder.
As a signatory to the Rome Statute, Italy is legally obliged to arrest and surrender to the ICC individuals who are being sought by the ICC. However, the Meloni government shockingly ignored a valid ICC arrest warrant, and released the Libyan warlord from prison and flew him to Libya, on an Italian government plane. Italian prosecutors this week launched an investigation against Meloni (Brothers of Italy / European Conservatives and Reformists) and two ministers of her government for her role in this shocking decision.
Vula Tsetsi, Co-Chair of the European Green Party, said: "The ICC is an independent court that prosecutes the perpetrators of some of the world's worst atrocities. Now far-right leaders Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump are subverting justice and undermining the international legal order. Meloni and her government had consistently stated their intention to “persecute human traffickers”. Yet in a shockingly hypocritical move, after capturing one such trafficker they immediately released him and flew him back to Libya, ignoring the ICC arrest warrant. This happened in the context of the Italian government's cooperation with the Libyan coast guard to stop migrants from reaching Italy, and to lock them up in unbearable conditions in overcrowded and unsafe detention centers.”
Ciarán Cuffe, Co-Chair of the European Green Party, added: "The work of the court is essential in the fight against impunity. The ICC has given people around the world a measure of protection by holding those who commit war crimes accountable. Meloni's decision to side with a warlord accused of crimes against humanity, including torture, rape and murder, is an affront to justice. Combined with Trump's hostile actions against the ICC, it represents a dangerous pattern of far-right leaders sabotaging the ICC. They give free rein to war criminals. Trump and Meloni are making the world a much more dangerous place.”
The European Greens call on the European Commission to hold Italy accountable for its defiance of international legal obligations, and ask the European Commission to protect the vital role of the ICC in upholding justice around the world.
The Meloni government is a coalition of the Fratelli d'Italia, member of the European Conservatives and Reformists ECR, the Lega, member of the Patriots, and Forza Italia, member of the European People's Party EPP.
