By Emilio Parodi

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s cabinet on Thursday approved a justice reform aimed at strengthening the rights of defendants, measures long advocated by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who died this week after years of legal battles with prosecutors.

The bill, which Giorgia Meloni’s rightist government dedicated to Berlusconi, curbs the use of wiretaps, complicates procedures for ordering arrests and scraps the crime of abuse of office, among a raft of steps to clip the wings of prosecutors.

It is the latest in a stream of attempts by recent governments to overhaul Italy’s notoriously slow and inefficient justice system. The bill will now go to parliament for discussion and approval.

Some judges and prosecutors say it will make it harder to investigate crimes and convict criminals. The government insists it will curb prosecutors’ abuses and speed up procedures.

A key point is the abolition of the crime of abuse of office, which Justice Minister Carlo Nordio has called an “evanescent” offence that deters elected officials from making decisions and clogs up judicial proceedings. Other corruption offences remain on the books.

A draft of the reform seen by Reuters cites data showing that in 2021, 4,745 people were investigated for abuse of office, while there were only 18 convictions.

Protecting people from arrest is another centre-piece of the legislation.

Judges will no longer be able to order the arrest of suspects without first questioning them, unless it can be demonstrated that a surprise element is needed for a successful outcome of the investigation.

In addition, arrest warrants must in future be signed by a panel of three judges instead of just one, as is now the case.

The reform also toughens the rules on wiretapping, a hotly debated issue in Italy, by curbing the use in trials of tapped conversations involving people not under direct investigation.

The right of prosecutors to appeal against acquittals – an extremely common occurrence in Italy – is also curtailed for a series of less serious crimes.

Giuseppe Santalucia, the president of Italy’s association of magistrates, said the cancellation of abuse of office would create “an unjustifiable gap in criminal law protection”.

Having three judges decide on arrest orders will create organisational problems due to a shortage of personnel, he added, while preventing prosecutors from appealing acquittals probably ran counter to the constitution.

Such objections were dismissed on Thursday by Deputy Justice Minister Francesco Paolo Sisto, who told newspaper Corriere della Sera the reform would “unblock the country” and should be seen as a posthumous gift to Berlusconi.

“It is right to dedicate this reform to him, because it is in line with his values,” he said.

(Editing by Gavin Jones and Nick Macfie)

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