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The Italian government’s controversial plan to detain illegal migrants in Albanian facilities faces potential scrutiny from EU courts after Italian magistrates ordered another group of migrants returned from Albania this week.

According to Rai Italia, the Court of Rome mandated the return of seven migrants from Bangladesh and Egypt who had been transported to an Albanian processing center in Gjdaer by the Italian Navy.

The magistrates’ decision referenced a European Court of Justice ruling that narrowly defines “safe countries” as those entirely free from political violence, torture, and capital punishment. This interpretation challenges Prime Minister Meloni’s government’s recent decree that designated 19 nations, including Bangladesh and Egypt, as safe for returning asylum seekers.

Rome’s court has now referred this jurisdictional dispute to the EU’s Luxembourg court, potentially impacting other EU members who’ve expressed interest in adopting similar migration policies.

The court’s decision sparked controversy on social media when Elon Musk commented: “These judges need to go.”

This remark triggered sharp criticism from European politicians. Ernesto Carbone of Italy’s Superior Council of the Judiciary stated: “Elon Musk’s words against Italian judges are dangerous words. These new oligarchs who exploit new worlds (such as space, the ether, social media and new technologies) to control world politics are a danger to democracy… All this is unacceptable but, above all, dangerous”.

European Parliament member Sandro Gozi responded: “Italy and Europe do not take lessons in democracy from anyone, much less from Elon Musk, whose sole purpose is to undermine our fundamental values, the rule of law, the most basic principles of our democracies, starting with the independence of the judiciary… He should go build his regimes in space.”

However, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini supported Musk, saying: “Elon Musk is right. On December 20, I could receive a 6-year prison sentence for having blocked, as Minister of the Interior, the landings of illegal immigrants. Seen from abroad, all this seems even more incredible.”

Salvini further criticized the ruling as politically motivated, stating: “The government and parliament have the right to react to protect citizens, and they will do so. Provided that some other magistrate, in the meantime, does not sentence me to six years in prison for having defended the borders.”