Giuliano Vassalli (25 April 1915 – 21 October 2009) was an Italian politician, lecturer and lawyer.
Life
He was born in
Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...
, son of Filippo Vassalli, a famous lecturer and lawyer. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
Vassalli was imprisoned by Nazi forces in Rome and subjected to torture.
Pope Pius XII intervened personally on his behalf and was able to have his life spared.
Peter Hebblethwaite
Peter Hebblethwaite (30 September 1930 – 18 December 1994) was a British Jesuit priest and writer. After leaving the priesthood, he became an editor, journalist (' Vaticanologist') and biographer.
Life
Hebblethwaite was born in Ashton-unde ...
, ''Paul VI'' (Paulist Press, New York, 1978), p. 701.
Political career
After 1945 Vassalli joined the
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Socialism, socialist and later Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the l ...
; from 1968 to 1972 he was a
deputy, and then from 1983 to 1987 a
senator for this party. In 1987
Giovanni Goria named him Minister of Justice, he was confirmed along with
Ciriaco De Mita and
Giulio Andreotti. During this time he approved a new proceeding criminal code.
President
Francesco Cossiga appointed him to the
Constitutional Court of Italy
The Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic ( it, Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) is the highest court of Italy in matters of constitutional law. Sometimes, the name ''Consulta'' is used as a metonym for it, because its sessi ...
4 February 1991 and woved nine days after. He was Vice-president of the court from 1996 to 1999 under
Renato Granata, and
its President from 11 November 1999 to 13 February 2000.
Retirement
Although in his later years Vassalli retired from public life, he was sometimes asked for his advice. During 2001 Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...
sought his advice over the
European Arrest Warrant and Vassalli answered that it was a violation of the principles of
natural justice
In English law, natural justice is technical terminology for the rule against bias (''nemo iudex in causa sua'') and the right to a fair hearing ('' audi alteram partem''). While the term ''natural justice'' is often retained as a general c ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vassalli, Giuliano
1915 births
2009 deaths
People from Perugia
Members of the Senate of the Republic (Italy)
Italian Socialist Party politicians
Italian Ministers of Justice
Candidates for President of Italy
Presidents of the Constitutional Court of Italy
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy)
20th-century Italian politicians