The League calls for the “immediate resignation” of Iolanda Apostolico. The Democratic Party talks about a “state dossier” against the Catania judge. Let’s try to align some elements. 1) The magistrate in question published on his social media profile the petition to disqualify Matteo Salvini when he was Minister of the Interior. 2) He also “liked” a post in which the League leader was insulted. 3) he participated in a demonstration to disembark migrants aboard a Coast Guard ship, in which the crowd chanted “murderer cops”. These three facts date back to 2018. The protagonist is always her: the Apostolic Judge. Then there are current events. A few days ago she handed down the sentence with which she freed three Tunisians from the CPR of Catania. The reason? In her opinion, the rules approved by the government would be illegitimate. These are the facts, summarized in chronological order.
So, let’s go back to the starting point. Are there reasons to ask for the magistrate’s resignation or are we facing a dossier against him? Giorgia Meloni has no doubts: «Salvini didn’t tell me about the video, it seems secondary to me. Also all the controversy I’m seeing about the dossier: you participate in a public demonstration and demand it. Dossier guarding is usually a hidden activity, to bring to light things you don’t know, but if someone is in the front row of a demonstration, behind a banner, what kind of dossier is that? You stand there and claim it.” Therefore, she adds, “it seems legitimate to me” to criticize the choice of the apostolic magistrate. “Is there prejudice in the decisions?”
Salvini also believes that all of this cannot be ignored. «What is emerging is worrying and disconcerting – says the deputy prime minister – The judge who released several illegal immigrants and challenges the government’s rules on immigration has shared insults against me in the past and participated, with his partner, in far-left demonstrations in favor of immigrants during which the police were insulted with screams of murderers and animals: it is a source of deep embarrassment for all institutions.” Meanwhile, the group’s leader in the FdI Chamber, Tommaso Foti, announces an interrogation of the Keeper of the Seals Carlo Nordio, “to assess the existence, or not, of conditions for the adoption of initiatives of a supervisory nature in relation to the serious behavior of the Apostolic Judge”. Soon came the response from the Minister of Justice: «I’m stupid that someone invokes privacy for a public event. A parliamentary interrogation is coming, so it is our duty to investigate.” The opposition, however, believes that the Catania magistrate’s ideas and actions are completely irrelevant. The problem, according to Pd, M5S and AVS, is the video, released by Salvini, in which Apostolico is seen at the pro-migrant and anti-police demonstration. For the parties of Schlein, Conte, Fratoianni and Bonelli, this film should remain secret. Woe to spread it and woe to watch it.
Peppe Provenzano, from the national secretariat of the Democratic Party, alludes to the conspiracy, due to “the use of a video from five years ago (kept by who?) to attack a magistrate, which no questionable behavior can justify. It is a state file. No one is safe.” According to Sandro Ruotolo, Copasir should even take care of this. Another member of Schlein’s team, Antonio Misiani, declares himself even more suspicious: «Question no. 1: who recorded that video? Someone in the police cordon, as they speculate some media outlets? Question No. 2: Who saved and sent the video to Deputy Prime Minister Salvini?” Fellow senators Anna Rossomando and Walter Verini announce a question to Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi, because “magistrates cannot be prevented from expressing what they think”. The head of the Ministry of the Interior will speak during Wednesday’s question period at the Constitutional Affairs committee. Grillina’s deputy, Vittoria Baldino, is also furious: “The government has to clarify, is it a dossier?” Angelo Bonelli goes further, with a complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rome on the suspicion that the video “is material coming from the offices of the State Police”. Meanwhile, the response comes from the Catania Police Headquarters, which explains: «Regarding the publication of images referring to the demonstration of August 25, 2018 in the port of Catania, in addition, in the documents drawn up by the operators accompanying the service relating to the aforementioned demonstration, there is no mention of the presence of Dr. Iolanda Apostolico or her husband.”
Source: IL Tempo

Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.