Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's Chief of Staff Giusi Bartolozzi has caused a storm in the March 22-23 justice reform referendum campaign by calling the judiciary a firing squad that had to be eliminated on Italian TV at the weekend.
"Vote yes (to the reform) and we'll get rid of the judiciary, which is a pilot...they're firing squads.
Firing squads," said Bartolozzi, during a broadcast last Saturday on the Sicilian broadcaster Telecolor.
The remarks came at the end of a back-and-forth with Italian Left (SI) Senator Ilaria Cucchi.
Cucchi had asked the chief of staff why the government "has all this interest in criminal proceedings," given that the greatest problems are in civil matters.
