Padua prosecutors open file on Islamic arbitration chamber, no suspects or charges

A file without suspects

The Padua prosecutor's office has opened a file under 'modello 45', the register used when there are no suspects and no alleged offence. Prosecutor Angelantonio Racanelli announced the step in a note on Thursday 8 October, following a complaint filed by lawyer Francesco Minutillo, a member of the national assembly of Futuro Nazionale, the party of Roberto Vannacci. The Islamic Arbitration Chamber of Italy has operated in Padua for about seven months and was constituted on 3 March 2026 as an unrecognised association. Its website says it aims to resolve civil and commercial disputes under Sharia principles and that its rulings will have the same effect as a judgment of an Italian court. Tgcom24 reported that the chamber had not yet resolved any dispute.

Racanelli said the office would act as the law requires.

The office will carry out the duties entrusted to it by law, conducting the necessary investigations, as always.

The legal question

Minutillo has framed the complaint as a legal matter rather than a religious one. According to Tgcom24, he says the chamber's statute and arbitration rules describe its tribunal as a 'Sciaraitico' court in which Sharia rules come first, with Italian law applied only where Sharia gives no precise rule. Asked about the case, he said the issue concerns a possible parallel system of justice.

I am not asking to judge a religion, the question is strictly legal.

Il Fatto Quotidiano cites Filippo Danovi, a professor of civil procedure at the University of Milan who worked on the Cartabia reform, which widened the freedom of parties to choose the rules applicable to arbitration. Danovi described the purpose of the change in these terms.

The purpose of the innovation was to allow the parties to build a jurisdiction tailored to them.

Danovi added that this freedom has firm limits. Rai and the Muslim body UCOII both note that matters concerning civil status and non-waivable rights, such as marriage, family and filiation, are excluded from arbitration by law.

Political reaction

Matteo Salvini, deputy prime minister and leader of the Lega, said he had reported the case to the competent ministers. His statement on the issue was blunt.

Sharia in Italy too? Absolutely not. In Italy there cannot be Islamic courts or parallel laws.

The Lega filed a parliamentary question addressed to Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, and senator Gianluca Cantalamessa described the body as a real danger to security. Anna Maria Cisint, a Lega member of the European Parliament, said she had written to the Padua prosecutors. Fratelli d'Italia deputies Elisabetta Gardini and Sara Kelany said the emergence of Sharia tribunals on national territory is not tolerable. Nordio said he has full confidence in the Padua magistrates and expects them to carry out the necessary investigations.

The chamber's defence and the Muslim community

UCOII distanced itself from what it called the 'so-called Italian Islamic Arbitration Chamber', saying it was launched entirely independently by people unknown to Italy's Islamic communities. It said none of the associations, centres or mosques it represents had promoted, supported or recognised the initiative, and that justice in Italy is administered by the courts of the Republic.

The chamber's founder, Omar Vanin, a lawyer and private international law scholar who works with the University of Padua, rejects the criticism that the body operates outside the law.

An arbitration tribunal, meaning one that relies on private parties, that draws on religious concepts cannot in any case violate the public order rules of our country.

Maurizio Paniz, a former Forza Italia deputy and lawyer, argued in il Giornale that arbitral awards cannot be placed on the same level as court judgments. As of Thursday, the file opened in Padua names no suspects and alleges no offence.