Roberto Castelli (born 12 July 1946) is an Italian politician. He was the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

in the second and third governments of

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 ...

. He has been one of the main representatives of the Northern League.

Early life and education

Castelli was born in

Lecco Lecco (, , ; lmo, label=Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...

12 July 1946. He holds a degree in mechanic engineering.

Career

Castelli is an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, and has been in politics with the

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

since 1986. In 1992, Castelli was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

and was re-elected in 1994. From 1996 to 2013 he was a member of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, and for two years (1999–2001) he was chairman of parliamentary group of the Northern League in the Senate, as he is now.

Minister of Justice

In fall 2004, he completed a highly controversial reform of the judiciary, but initially President

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006. Biography Education Ciampi was born i ...

, even though he had been pressured by Castelli to do so, refused to sign the bill. The law was passed again in spring 2005. As a minister, he refused to sign President Ciampi's decision to

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

Adriano Sofri Adriano Sofri (born 1 August 1942) is an Italian intellectual, a journalist and a writer. The former leader of the autonomist movement ''Lotta Continua'' ("Continuous Struggle") in the 1960s, he was arrested in 1988 and sentenced to 22 years of ...

, leading to a conflict of powers in which the President has tried to reassert its exclusive competence in the matter (as stated in article 87 of the

Constitution of Italy The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...

), and the minister claimed that he had the right to object. He also refused to request the extradition of 22 alleged

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

agents from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

who were implicated in the kidnapping and torture of

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr ( ar, حسن مصطفى أسامة نصر ''Ḥassan Muṣṭafā Usāmah Naṣr'') (born 18 March 1963), also known as Abu Omar, is an Egyptian cleric. In 2003, he was living in Milan, Italy, from where he was kidnapped ...

. On 13 December 2012, Castelli said during the satirical talk show of

Rai Radio 2 Rai Radio 2 (''radio due'') is an Italian radio channel operated by the state-owned public-broadcasting organization RAI and specializing in talk programmes and popular music from Italy and China. History The origins of the channel can be tr ...

" Un giorno da pecora" he will not seek re-election to the

2013 Italian general election The 2013 Italian general election was held on 24 and 25 February 2013 to determine the 630 members of the Chamber of Deputies and the 315 elective members of the Senate of the Republic for the 17th Italian Parliament. The centre-left alliance ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castelli, Roberto 1946 births Living people Polytechnic University of Milan alumni People from Lecco Government ministers of Italy Lega Nord politicians Italian Ministers of Justice