Giuliano Vassalli (25 April 1915 – 21 October 2009) was an Italian politician, lecturer and lawyer.

Life

He was born in

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

, son of Filippo Vassalli, a famous lecturer and lawyer. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Vassalli was imprisoned by Nazi forces in Rome and subjected to torture. Pope Pius XII intervened personally on his behalf and was able to have his life spared.

Peter Hebblethwaite Peter Hebblethwaite (30 September 1930 – 18 December 1994) was a British Jesuit priest and writer. After leaving the priesthood, he became an editor, journalist (' Vaticanologist') and biographer. Life Hebblethwaite was born in Ashton-unde ...

, ''Paul VI'' (Paulist Press, New York, 1978), p. 701.

Political career

After 1945 Vassalli joined the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Socialism, socialist and later Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the l ...

; from 1968 to 1972 he was a deputy, and then from 1983 to 1987 a senator for this party. In 1987 Giovanni Goria named him Minister of Justice, he was confirmed along with Ciriaco De Mita and Giulio Andreotti. During this time he approved a new proceeding criminal code. President Francesco Cossiga appointed him to the

Constitutional Court of Italy The Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic ( it, Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) is the highest court of Italy in matters of constitutional law. Sometimes, the name ''Consulta'' is used as a metonym for it, because its sessi ...

4 February 1991 and woved nine days after. He was Vice-president of the court from 1996 to 1999 under Renato Granata, and its President from 11 November 1999 to 13 February 2000.

Retirement

Although in his later years Vassalli retired from public life, he was sometimes asked for his advice. During 2001 Prime Minister

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

sought his advice over the European Arrest Warrant and Vassalli answered that it was a violation of the principles of

natural justice In English law, natural justice is technical terminology for the rule against bias (''nemo iudex in causa sua'') and the right to a fair hearing ('' audi alteram partem''). While the term ''natural justice'' is often retained as a general c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vassalli, Giuliano 1915 births 2009 deaths People from Perugia Members of the Senate of the Republic (Italy) Italian Socialist Party politicians Italian Ministers of Justice Candidates for President of Italy Presidents of the Constitutional Court of Italy Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy) 20th-century Italian politicians