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Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

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Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96
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Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

2024-07-14 00:18 Last Updated At:00:20

NEW YORK (AP) — Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and bestselling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96.

Westheimer died Friday at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu.

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FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer, foreground center, watches President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the Western Inaugural Ball in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer, foreground center, watches President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the Western Inaugural Ball in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - New Penthouse Pet of the Year Ginger Miller, left, of Los Angeles, talks with sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, both embraced by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione at a party in Miller's honor in New York on Monday, Dec. 6, 1988. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - New Penthouse Pet of the Year Ginger Miller, left, of Los Angeles, talks with sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, both embraced by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione at a party in Miller's honor in New York on Monday, Dec. 6, 1988. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer signs a copy of her book "Sexually Speaking" in New York on April 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer signs a copy of her book "Sexually Speaking" in New York on April 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Talk show host Phil Donahue, center, poses with several other prominent television personalities after the taping of "Donahue: The 25th Anniversary," in New York, Oct. 1992. From left, Jenny Jones, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Faith Daniels, Larry King, Donahue, Connie Chung, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer and Montel Williams. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Joe Major, File)

FILE - Talk show host Phil Donahue, center, poses with several other prominent television personalities after the taping of "Donahue: The 25th Anniversary," in New York, Oct. 1992. From left, Jenny Jones, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Faith Daniels, Larry King, Donahue, Connie Chung, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer and Montel Williams. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Joe Major, File)

Dr. Ruth Westheimer holds a copy of her book "Sex for Dummies" at the International Frankfurt Book Fair 'Frankfurter Buchmesse' in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer)

Dr. Ruth Westheimer holds a copy of her book "Sex for Dummies" at the International Frankfurt Book Fair 'Frankfurter Buchmesse' in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer)

FILE - Sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer talks with rock singer Cyndi Lauper in New York, Jan. 17, 1985. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Nancy Kaye, File)

FILE - Sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer talks with rock singer Cyndi Lauper in New York, Jan. 17, 1985. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Nancy Kaye, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth mingles at the Salesforce Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, in Park City, Utah. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96. Westheimer died on Friday, July 2, 2024, at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu. (Photo by Miles Mortensen/ Invision for The Salesforce Music Lodge/AP Images, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth mingles at the Salesforce Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, in Park City, Utah. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96. Westheimer died on Friday, July 2, 2024, at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu. (Photo by Miles Mortensen/ Invision for The Salesforce Music Lodge/AP Images, File)

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer participates in the "Ask Dr. Ruth" panel during the Hulu presentation at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96. Westheimer died on Friday, July 12, 2024, at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer participates in the "Ask Dr. Ruth" panel during the Hulu presentation at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96. Westheimer died on Friday, July 12, 2024, at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

Westheimer never advocated risky sexual behavior. Instead, she encouraged open dialogue on previously closeted issues that affected her audience of millions. Her one recurring theme was there was nothing to be ashamed of.

“I still hold old-fashioned values, and I'm a bit of a square,” she told students at Michigan City High School in 2002. “Sex is a private art and a private matter. But still, it is a subject we must talk about.”

Westheimer's giggly, German-accented voice, coupled with her 4-foot-7 frame, made her an unlikely looking — and sounding — outlet for “sexual literacy.” The contradiction was one of the keys to her success.

But it was her extensive knowledge and training, coupled with her humorous, nonjudgmental manner, that catapulted her local radio program, “Sexually Speaking,” into the national spotlight in the early 1980s. She had an open approach to what two consenting adults did in the privacy of their home.

“Tell him you’re not going to initiate,” she told a concerned caller in June 1982. “Tell him that Dr. Westheimer said that you’re not going to die if he doesn’t have sex for one week.”

Her radio success opened new doors, and in 1983 she wrote the first of more than 40 books: “Dr. Ruth’s Guide to Good Sex,” demystifying sex with both rationality and humor. There was even a board game, Dr. Ruth’s Game of Good Sex.

She soon became a regular on the late-night television talk-show circuit, bringing her personality to the national stage. Her rise coincided with the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when frank sexual talk became a necessity.

“If we could bring about talking about sexual activity the way we talk about diet — the way we talk about food — without it having this kind of connotation that there’s something not right about it, then we would be a step further. But we have to do it with good taste,” she told Johnny Carson in 1982.

She normalized the use of words like “penis” and “vagina” on radio and TV, aided by her Jewish grandmotherly accent, which The Wall Street Journal once said was “a cross between Henry Kissinger and Minnie Mouse.” People magazine included her in its list of “The Most Intriguing People of the Century.” She even made it into a Shania Twain song: “No, I don’t need proof to show me the truth/Not even Dr. Ruth is gonna tell me how I feel.”

Westheimer defended abortion rights, suggested older people have sex after a good night’s sleep, and was an outspoken advocate of condom use. She believed in monogamy.

In the 1980s, she stood up for gay men at the height of the AIDS epidemic and spoke out loudly for the LGBTQ+ community. She said she defended people deemed by some far-right Christians to be “subhuman” because of her own past.

Born Karola Ruth Siegel in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1928, she was an only child. At 10, she was sent by her parents to Switzerland to escape Kristallnacht — the Nazis’ 1938 pogrom that served as a precursor to the Holocaust. She never saw her parents again; Westheimer believed they were killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

At age 16, she moved to Palestine and joined the Haganah, the underground movement for Israeli independence. She was trained as a sniper, although she said she never shot at anyone.

Her legs were severely wounded when a bomb exploded in her dormitory, killing many of her friends. She said it was only through the work of a “superb” surgeon that she could walk and ski again.

In 1961, after a second divorce, she finally met her life partner: Manfred Westheimer, a fellow refugee from Nazi Germany. The couple married and had a son, Joel. They remained wed for 36 years until Fred, as she called him, died of heart failure in 1997.

In 1984, her radio program was nationally syndicated. A year later, she debuted in her own television program, “The Dr. Ruth Show,” which went on to win an Ace Award for excellence in cable television.

She also wrote a nationally syndicated advice column and later appeared in a line of videos produced by Playboy, preaching the virtues of open sexual discourse and good sex. She even had a series of calendars.

Her rise was noteworthy for the culture of the time, when President Ronald Reagan’s administration was hostile to Planned Parenthood and aligned with conservative voices.

Phyllis Schlafly, a staunch antifeminist, wrote in a 1999 piece called “The Dangers of Sex Education” that Westheimer, as well as Gloria Steinem, Anita Hill, Madonna, Ellen DeGeneres and others, were promoting “provocative sex chatter” and “rampant immorality.”

Westheimer's books include “Sex for Dummies” and her autobiographical works “All in a Lifetime” (1987) and “Musically Speaking: A Life Through Song” (2003). The documentary “Ask Dr. Ruth” aired in 2019, and a new book, "The Joy of Connections," is due in October.

Survivors include two children, Joel and Miriam, and four grandchildren.

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer, foreground center, watches President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the Western Inaugural Ball in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer, foreground center, watches President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the Western Inaugural Ball in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - New Penthouse Pet of the Year Ginger Miller, left, of Los Angeles, talks with sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, both embraced by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione at a party in Miller's honor in New York on Monday, Dec. 6, 1988. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - New Penthouse Pet of the Year Ginger Miller, left, of Los Angeles, talks with sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, both embraced by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione at a party in Miller's honor in New York on Monday, Dec. 6, 1988. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer signs a copy of her book "Sexually Speaking" in New York on April 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer signs a copy of her book "Sexually Speaking" in New York on April 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Talk show host Phil Donahue, center, poses with several other prominent television personalities after the taping of "Donahue: The 25th Anniversary," in New York, Oct. 1992. From left, Jenny Jones, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Faith Daniels, Larry King, Donahue, Connie Chung, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer and Montel Williams. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Joe Major, File)

FILE - Talk show host Phil Donahue, center, poses with several other prominent television personalities after the taping of "Donahue: The 25th Anniversary," in New York, Oct. 1992. From left, Jenny Jones, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Faith Daniels, Larry King, Donahue, Connie Chung, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer and Montel Williams. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Joe Major, File)

Dr. Ruth Westheimer holds a copy of her book "Sex for Dummies" at the International Frankfurt Book Fair 'Frankfurter Buchmesse' in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer)

Dr. Ruth Westheimer holds a copy of her book "Sex for Dummies" at the International Frankfurt Book Fair 'Frankfurter Buchmesse' in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer)

FILE - Sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer talks with rock singer Cyndi Lauper in New York, Jan. 17, 1985. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Nancy Kaye, File)

FILE - Sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer talks with rock singer Cyndi Lauper in New York, Jan. 17, 1985. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on Friday, July 12, 2024. She was 96. (AP Photo/Nancy Kaye, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth mingles at the Salesforce Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, in Park City, Utah. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96. Westheimer died on Friday, July 2, 2024, at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu. (Photo by Miles Mortensen/ Invision for The Salesforce Music Lodge/AP Images, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth mingles at the Salesforce Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, in Park City, Utah. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96. Westheimer died on Friday, July 2, 2024, at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu. (Photo by Miles Mortensen/ Invision for The Salesforce Music Lodge/AP Images, File)

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer participates in the "Ask Dr. Ruth" panel during the Hulu presentation at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96. Westheimer died on Friday, July 12, 2024, at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Dr. Ruth Westheimer participates in the "Ask Dr. Ruth" panel during the Hulu presentation at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96. Westheimer died on Friday, July 12, 2024, at her home in New York City, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America’s diminutive and pioneering sex therapist, dies at 96

ROME (AP) — Human rights groups voiced outrage Wednesday after Italy released a Libyan warlord on a technicality, after he was arrested on a warrant from the International Criminal Court accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Hague-based court, for its part, issued a more diplomatic response but its anger appeared evident. In a stern statement late Wednesday, the ICC reminded Italy that it is obliged to “cooperate fully” with its prosecutions and said it was still awaiting information about what exactly Rome had done.

The reaction came after the Italian government on Tuesday released and sent back home Ossama Anjiem, also known as Ossama al-Masri, who heads the Tripoli branch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution, a notorious network of detention centers run by the government-backed Special Defense Force.

Al-Masri had been arrested Sunday in Turin, where he reportedly had attended the Juventus-Milan soccer match the night before. The ICC warrant, dated the day before, accused al-Masri of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Mitiga prison in Libya starting in 2015 that are punishable with life in prison.

The ICC said he was accused of murder, torture, rape and sexual violence. It said the warrant was transmitted to member states on Saturday, including Italy, and that the court had also provided real-time information that he had entered Europe.

The court said it had reminded Italy at the time to contact it “without delay” if it ran into any problems cooperating with the warrant.

But Rome’s court of appeals ordered al-Masri freed Tuesday, and he was sent back to Libya aboard an aircraft of the Italian secret services, because of what the appeals court said was a procedural error in his arrest. The ruling said Justice Minister Carlo Nordio should have been informed ahead of time, since the justice ministry handles all relations with the ICC.

The ICC said it had not been given prior notice of the Rome court's decision, as required, and “is seeking, and is yet to obtain, verification from the authorities on the steps reportedly taken.”

Al-Masri returned to Tripoli late Tuesday, received at the Mitiga airport by supporters who celebrated his release, according to local media. Footage circulated online showed dozens of young men chanting and carrying what appeared to be al-Masri on their shoulders.

“This is a stunning blow to victims, survivors and international justice and a missed opportunity to break the cycle of impunity in Libya,” said Amnesty International’s Esther Major, deputy director of research for Europe.

Nordio appeared in the Senate on Wednesday for a previously-scheduled briefing, and was grilled by outraged opposition lawmakers who demanded clarity about what happened. Former Premier Matteo Renzi accused the right-wing government of hypocrisy given its stated crackdown on human traffickers.

“But when a trafficker whom the International Criminal Court tells us is a dangerous criminal lands on your table, it’s not like you chase him down, you brought him home to Libya with a plane of the Italian secret services,” said Renzi of the Italia Viva party. “Either you’ve gone crazy or this is the image of a hypocritical, indecent government.”

The Democratic Party demanded Premier Giorgia Meloni respond specifically to parliament about the case, saying it raised “grave questions” given the known abuses in Libyan prisons for which al-Masri is accused. Nordio didn't respond.

Italy has close ties to the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, on whom it relies to patrol its coasts and prevent waves of migrants from leaving. Any trial in The Hague of al-Masri could bring unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies and its support of the Libyan coast guard, which it has financed to prevent migrants from leaving.

Human rights groups have documented gross abuses in the Libyan detention facilities where migrants are kept, and have accused Italy of being complicit in their mistreatment.

Two humanitarian groups, Mediterranea Saving Humans and Refugees in Libya, which have documented abuses committed against migrants in Libyan detention facilities, said they were incredulous that Italy let al-Masri go.

David Yambio, a 27-year-old from South Sudan who said he was abused by al-Masri while he was detained at the Mitiga prison in 2019-2020, said he felt betrayed by Italy. Yambio, who eventually escaped from the prison and arrived in Italy on a smuggler’s boat in 2022, said he had a “fleeting feeling of justice” when he heard that al-Masri had been arrested in Turin.

“Those who waited long before me, the Libyans who are victims of his criminal network, his war crimes, have been wanting for this day to come,” said Yambio, who received asylum and now lives in Modena and runs his Refugees in Libya advocacy group. “But when it came, it was immediately extinguished hours before it could even truly be felt in our hearts.”

But Tarik Lamloum, a Libyan activist working with the Belaady Organization for Human Rights which focuses on migrants in Libya, said Italy’s release of al-Masri was expected. He said his release shows the power of militias who control the flow of migrants to Europe through Libya’s shores.

“Tripoli militias are able to pressure (Italy) because they control the migrants file,” he told The Associated Press.

Militias in western Libya are part of the official state forces tasked with intercepting migrants at sea, including in the EU-trained coast guard. They also run state detention centers, where abuses of migrants are common.

As a result, militias — some of them led by warlords the U.N. has sanctioned for abuses — benefit from millions in funds the European Union gives to Libya to stop the migrant flow to Europe.

The European Commission spokesman reaffirmed all EU members had pledged to cooperate with the court.

“We respect the court’s impartiality and we are fully attached to international criminal justice to combat impunity," said EU commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni. In a 2023 summit, the EU leaders committed “to cooperate fully with the court, including rapid execution of any pending arrests,” he added.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Paolo Santalucia in Rome and Molly Quell in The Hague contributed.

FILE - View of the ICC, the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

FILE - View of the ICC, the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi makes his remarks during Justice Minister Carlo Nordio's appearance at the Senate for the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio puts his hand to his head during the presentation of the report on the justice administration, at the Senate, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio puts his hand to his head during the presentation of the report on the justice administration, at the Senate, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio addresses the Senate during the report on the justice administration, in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Roberto Monaldo//LaPresse via AP)

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