Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Monday said that that she had been cleared in a case involving the much-criticised release of a Libyan official suspected of committing war crimes.
Osama Almasri Najim, the head of Libya's judicial police, was arrested in Turin on January 19 on a warrant from the International Criminal Court, only to be released by a Rome court on procedural grounds.
He was flown home to Tripoli two days later on an Italian air force aeroplane.
A separate Italian court had opened an investigation, but according to Meloni, investigators have concluded that she had not been informed of Najim's arrest and therefore could not have played any part in his release.
Critics denounced the decision to free a man wanted on charges including murder, rape and torture relating to his management of Tripoli's Mitiga detention centre.
The court's investigation also covers Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, and under-secretary Alfredo Mantovano, who is responsible for the intelligence service.
In her message, Meloni defended the two ministers and the senior official, arguing that they would not have made such a decision without consulting her.
"It would be absurd to charge Piantedosi, Nordio and Mantovano, and not me as well," she said.
Any trial for the officials would require authorisation from parliament, where Meloni's right-wing coalition has a comfortable majority.
