MEPs arrested late last year in the Qatargate scandal are hoping to soon return to the EU Parliament, even as they await trial for alleged crimes of corruption.
The Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella and Francesco Giorgi, the former assistant of Pier Antonio Panzeri, the alleged ringleader in the Qatargate bribery scheme, had their electronic bracelets removed and were released from house arrest on Wednesday, May 10th.
The two are still under formal arrest and subject to judicial monitoring, but the Prosecutor’s Office decided that their preventive detention “was no longer justified.”
In contrast, the former vice president of the European Parliament and Giorgi’s partner, Eva Kaili, as well as former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, still remain under house arrest. Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino is also still under house arrest in Naples and is barred from communicating with anyone except his family and lawyer. Kaili is currently living in Brussels.
In statements to the press on Wednesday, Tarabella said he would try to resume his work in the European Parliament, where he will act as a non-attached member since being ousted from his political group, the S&D group, for his political contagion.
On Wednesday, Tarabella was still awaiting details on the conditions of his new prisoner status. He maintains his innocence, crying during his statements as he blamed his arrest and charges on the “lies” of Panzeri.
Kaili is expected to ask for release from house arrest to return to Parliament as well.
“Eva Kaili is rebuilding her life having three priorities: a) to heal the wounds caused to the mental world of her child by the four-month absence of substantial communication with her mother b) to document her innocence c) to return actively to her duties in the European Parliament,” her lawyers Sven Mary and Michalis Dimitrakopoulos told Politico in a written statement.
Kaili has a two-year-old daughter and had limited visits with her during her four-month imprisonment that ended in April when she was moved to house arrest.
Though the MEPs have had their immunity lifted, they still retain their political positions and accompanying salaries while their cases go through the justice system.
