A chorus from Cagliari: «We defend the autonomy of magistrates»

"This is not a reform of justice, which is also affected by immense problems, which this proposal does not aim to solve. Not even a small one. It is instead a reform of the current constitutional structure of the judiciary, which leads to a dangerous upheaval, dividing the careers of public prosecutors from those of judges and paving the way for the greatest danger, that of the subjection of the public prosecutor to the executive power and therefore to a loss of autonomy and independence on the part of the judicial authority." Public Prosecutor Andrea Vacca, president of the board of the National Association of Magistrates of Sardinia, the regional branch of the ANM, has no hesitation in heavily criticizing the reform proposed by the Government and already put to the vote in the Senate. Recently elected to the central executive committee of the association that brings together Italian magistrates, yesterday morning the deputy prosecutor from Cagliari led the work of the conference that, in the great hall of the Court of Appeal of Cagliari, brought together many of the Sardinian judges who joined the national strike called against the reform.

Strike data – Many on the island abstained, even though several judges were in their offices yesterday morning. But participation – according to data from the island's ANM – would have been massive anyway (we're talking about 80 percent) and numerous criminal and civil hearings were skipped, except for urgent ones or those with prisoners that were guaranteed as required by law. "Many share the reasons for the mobilization", explains Vacca, "decided to defend the values of the constitution and the independence of magistrates". All wearing a toga and a tricolor cockade pinned to their chest, many others with the Constitution hanging on the doors of their offices, judges and public prosecutors from Cagliari joined the protest, underlining that the reform being examined by Parliament risks being the first step towards the loss of autonomy of a part of the judicial power, that of the investigators. "The loss of autonomy and independence has an impact on the justice service that magistrates provide to citizens," Vacca explains, "so there is a risk of losing the equality of all before the law. Autonomy and independence undermined risk leading to a public prosecutor who is stronger with the weak and weaker with the strong. This reform, apparently very urgent, does not solve even one problem of justice, much less those related to the length of trials."

The interventions – The intervention of the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal, Luigi Patronaggio, was applauded. He – expressing strong criticism of the reform – asked his colleagues not to lose sight of the need for constant dialogue, also because at the end of the proceedings the final opinion on the reform could be asked of citizens with a referendum and, in the event of a defeat, there would be a risk of delegitimization. Also speaking against the reform, in a personal capacity, were the magistrates Vincenzo Amato (President of the Court of Cagliari), Rodolfo Sabelli (Chief Prosecutor of the Capital), Maria Cristina Ornano (President of the Surveillance Court), Armando Mammone (Prosecutor of Sassari), but also Alessandro Castello and the university professor Gianmario Demuro, Ylenia Ruggiu, Andrea Deffenu and Carlo Dore, and then again the magistrates Federico Loche and Martina Varagnolo. Don Ettore Cannavera (founder of the community La Collina di Serdiana) and Marco Pilloni, president of the student association Elsa, also took part in the debate. The meeting was moderated by the president of the Sardinian Press Association, Simonetta Selloni.

Separate careers - "There is the problem that it is a reform proposed by the Government and supported only by the majority, so much so that in the first vote there were no amendments", explains the constitutionalist Gianmario Demuro, "the Constitutions, on the other hand, are always moments of sharing and armistice in the relations between the political forces in Parliament. The separation of careers already exists in the legislation, the judicial order must be maintained in a single order to preserve the culture of jurisdiction". The magistrates of the ANM Sardinia that yesterday's strike was not against the government, nor in defense of a corporate interest. "Simply", they explain, "we are publicly showing and divulging the reasons why we consider this reform so worrying in concrete terms".

Francis Pinna