Roberto Castelli (born 12 July 1946) is an Italian politician. He was the Minister of Justice in the second and third governments of

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

. He has been one of the main representatives of

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

Early life and education

Castelli was born in

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 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''). The Bergamasqu ...

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

Career

Castelli is an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, and has been in politics with the Northern League 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 Bourb ...

and was re-elected in 1994. From 1996 to 2013, he was a member of the Senate of the Republic, and for two years (1999–2001) was chairman of parliamentary group of the Northern League in the Senate.

Minister of Justice

In fall 2004, Castelli completed a highly controversial reform of the judiciary ( Castelli Reform). Initially, the then Italian president

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician, statesman and banker who was the President of Italy from 1999 to 2006 and the Prime Minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994. A World War II veteran, C ...

, 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, Castelli refused to sign Ciampi's decision to pardon Adriano Sofri, leading to a conflict of powers in which Ciampi, as the president of the Italian Republic, 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 () was ratified on 22 December 1947 by the Constituent Assembly of Italy, Constituent Assembly, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against, before coming into force on 1 January 1948, one century after the p ...

), and Castelli claimed that, as justice minister, he had the right to object. He also refused to request the extradition of 22 alleged CIA agents from the United States who were implicated in the kidnapping and torture of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. On 13 December 2012, Castelli said during the satirical talk show of Rai Radio 2 ''Un giorno da pecora'' that he would not seek re-election to the 2013 Italian general election.

Electoral history

References

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