Siher case, Nordio: "Surprised by the investigating judge's decision but no to sending inspectors"

"The decision of the investigating judge of Milan surprised me", this is how the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio returned to the case of Youssef Siher, the man accused of subversion and terrorism as administrator of the social pages of the "October 17 Movement" and released from prison by the judges. Nordio was interviewed by the director of Sky TG24, Fabio Vitale, as part of the 17th edition of the Salone della Giustizia.

The Minister of Justice was asked for a comment regarding the decision of the investigating judge of Milan not to validate the arrest of Youssef Siher because "there were no serious indications to stop him". Nordio underlined that, as a former magistrate, he respects the decision of the judge for preliminary investigations, adding that "these provisions must always be read in full and are susceptible to opposition by the Prosecutor's Office". "I have already said and I repeat however - he explained - that I was surprised because the motivation with which the Prosecutor's Office had requested not only the validation of the arrest but the precautionary custody order was very well motivated". For the minister, seeing that the prosecutors' reasons were completely rejected "was a source of surprise". In any case, Nordio stated that "there is no intention to send inspectors to Milan" after the investigating judge's decision to release Youssef Siher.

Shifting attention to what happened in Milan during the demonstrations of 17 October, Nordio reported that "when demonstrations take place simultaneously in various countries, not only in Italy, but in France, Spain, Albania, the suspicion that there are forms other than spontaneous ones emerges. After '68 we had never witnessed so many demonstrations, even by minors unrelated to political ideologies". To a question about the pardon, however, the minister believes that "for me, every form of free clemency is a form of surrender by the State if it is done to empty the prisons, because then one wonders: why do you put them in if you then have no room? Experience teaches us that when these pardons are given, after a year the situation returns identical to before. Another thing, and we are doing it, are the alternative paths for drug addicts who are sick people to be treated rather than criminals to be punished".