Qatargate, Cozzolino extradition hearing postponed to April 11

A new postponement in the hearing underway at the Court of Appeal of Naples to decide on the extradition of MEP Andrea Cozzolino to Belgium, where he is being investigated in the Qatargate investigation. The next hearing is scheduled for April 11.

A medical examiner's opinion on the health conditions of MEP Andrea Cozzolino, deemed incompatible with the Belgian prison, and the report of a constitutionalist, Raffaele Bifulco, which highlights that if the requests formulated are not answered as requested by the lawyers Federico Conte and Dezio Ferraro, then a violation of the Constitution could occur.

 Qatargate, Cozzolino for doctors is incompatible with prison

This is what was filed this morning at the prevention measures section of the Court of Appeal di Napoli, which postponed the decision on the extradition request for Cozzolino, under investigation in the Qatargate investigation, until April 11.

Fugitive drug lord Massimiliano Amato, former head of the Fedayeen, captured in Lima, Peru May 9, 2025 - 15:10 am

The requests for integration concern first of all the question of health and the compatibility of the prison regime with Cozzolino's heart pathologies considered “important and serious”.

Also added to the so-called “exploratory nature” of the international arrest warrant and its self-sufficiency, that is, whether it can independently justify the decision of an Italian judge to deprive someone of personal liberty. Finally, an addition to the role of the secret services in the entire investigation.

The report sent by the Belgian Department of Justice “provides formal, apparent, generic answers that do not correspond to the questions posed regarding the person and pathology of Cozzolino”. This is reported by the lawyer Federico Conte, who with the lawyer Dezio Ferraro, assists MEP Andrea Cozzolino, who is under investigation for corruption in the Qatargate scandal.

“The Court had requested an individualized report on the circumscribed and described physio-pathological profile of the MEP, instead a report arrived which, as far as we know, is the same one that is sent on request throughout Europe and which, among other things, seems to be dated 2017-2018”.