Italy's
Prime Minister Enrico Letta has strongly defended his interior
minister, who is facing a no-confidence vote in the Senate shortly.
The minister, Angelino Alfano, is under fire over the controversial deportation of a Kazakh dissident's family.
There are suspicions that the extradition was carried out as a favour to oil-rich Kazakhstan, which has a poor human rights record.
The deportation row threatens the stability of Italy's ruling coalition.
Mr Letta told the Senate that Mr Alfano had not been involved in the expulsion of Alma Shalabayeva, wife of dissident banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, and their six-year-old daughter in May.
But Mr Letta acknowledged that the deportation meant "embarrassment and disrepute" for Italy.
Mr Alfano insists he was unaware of Kazakh diplomatic pressure over Mr Ablyazov's family. His chief of staff resigned over the affair this week.
Mr Letta urged senators to back the minister so the government could carry on its work of addressing Italy's economic problems.
"What I am asking you for is a new vote of confidence in the government which I have the honour to lead," he said.
Mr Letta heads a fragile coalition of centre-left and right-wing parties.
Mr Alfano is an ally of the former conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.