Migrants, Court of Cassation: "A political act cannot escape the law"

Rome, March 7 (LaPresse) – "It is certainly excluded that the refusal of authorization for the disembarkation of migrants rescued at sea, prolonged for ten days, could be considered a political act exempt from judicial control." This is what the Supreme judges of the Civil Sections of the Court of Cassation stated in a 37-page ruling in which they accepted the appeal of 41 refugees from Eritrea, who were aboard the Coast Guard ship 'Diciotti' and were detained on board from August 16 to 25, 2018. "Rather, we are dealing with an act that expresses an administrative function to be carried out, even if in the implementation of a political direction," continued the Civil Sections judges. "This is done in order to balance the interests at stake, and precisely for this reason, it is part of a regulation that, at various levels, international and national, defines its boundaries. The political motivations behind the conduct do not alter its qualification; they do not make a political act one that is, and remains, essentially administrative. Therefore, there is no absolute lack of jurisdiction. To the extent that the scope of discretionary power, even the very broad one associated with government action, is limited by constraints established by legal norms that define its boundaries or guide its exercise, compliance with these constraints constitutes a requirement for the legitimacy and validity of the act, which can be reviewed in the appropriate venues. Among these constraints, the primary importance is certainly the respect and safeguarding of the inviolable rights of the person. Government action, even when motivated by political reasons, can never be considered exempt from judicial scrutiny when it goes beyond the limits imposed by the Constitution and the law, especially when the fundamental rights of citizens (or foreigners), constitutionally protected, are at stake," concluded the judges of Piazza Cavour in Rome.