Naples, Gratteri: "There's a shortage of investigating judges, 1.300 requests for pre-trial detention are pending."

A staffing shortage that threatens to slow down the work of the Neapolitan justice system. Naples Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri once again raised the alarm, revisiting the situation of the investigating judge's office and the consequences of the shortage of magistrates.

On the sidelines of a press conference on the operation that led to the arrest of 31 alleged members of the Petrone-Petruccelli clan from the Rione Traiano district, Gratteri indicated that approximately 1.300 requests for pre-trial detention are still pending, some of which have been pending for years.

"It's not about wanting to arrest more people, but about understanding and realizing that there are requests for pre-trial detention that have been pending for up to two years. And of the 1.300 requests, approximately 1.150 are for proceedings by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate. So it's not possible for the investigating judge's office to remain unprotected for years."

The prosecutor noted that the staffing problem is not a recent one and that the situation had already been highlighted upon the inauguration of the new president of the Naples Court, Maria Gabriella Casella.

"The staffing shortage," Gratteri reminds us, "isn't a new phenomenon. If we're short 10 investigating judges now, last year we were short 8, so it doesn't matter much. There's a need because the Naples Prosecutor's Office's production has increased, and so the investigating judge's office needs to be equipped by filling the staffing lists provided by the CSM and the Ministry."

To address the situation immediately, Gratteri also suggests a possible organizational solution. "In the meantime," the Naples prosecutor emphasizes, "we can reduce the number of judges in the sections and immediately fill the staffing chart."

During the meeting, the prosecutor also addressed the criticisms raised by the Attorney General's Office regarding the possibility of holding trials in the afternoon. Gratteri defended the option, citing the protocol signed by the Attorney General's offices.

Some have gotten excited, saying that lawyers can't be in court from 9 a.m. to 16 p.m. That's not true, because if lawyers had only read the protocol signed not only by the Bar Council but also by the Criminal Chambers, they would have read that there are designated trial start times. There's a timetable, it's not a scandal.

Gratteri then cited the experience of the Santa Maria Capua Vetere Courthouse as an example of organizing hearings even in the afternoon. "Why do hearings in the Santa Maria Capua Vetere Courthouse take place in the afternoon? It's true, judges also have to hold deliberations, I know that well, but so they don't hold deliberations in Santa Maria Capua Vetere? They can also be held in Naples and work can be done peacefully in the afternoon, as is done in almost all of Italy."

The situation at the Naples GIP Office remains at the center of attention, with the Prosecutor's Office requesting intervention to fill the gaps and process the pending requests for pre-trial detention.