Double murderer attacks life sentence after Strasbourg decision

A man convicted of the voluntary homicide of two people will be challenging his life imprisonment, just a day after the European Court of Human Rights stated that whole-life orders were in violation of Article 3 of the Convention of Human Rights.

Brian Vella had his life term confirmed on appeal after a jury found him guilty of the murder of his neighbours, 79-year-old Gerald Grima and his 63-year-old wife Josephine, whom he gagged and bound in their apartment back in 2000.

In March 2013, lawyers David Camilleri and Joseph Gatt commenced proceedings in the Civil Court, in its constitutional jurisdiction, to argue that the blanket prohibition of remission or early release for lifers was contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention for Human Rights, which states that "nobody will be subject to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

In a note of submission presented yesterday, Vella's defence mentioned the judgment of Vinter and Others versus the United Kingdom, which was pending before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.

The European Court yesterday gave judgment whereby it stated that whole life tariffs were in violation of Article 3.

Prison rights' group Mid-Dlam Ghad-Dawl today welcomed the ECHR decision, saying life imprisonment was inhumane and that Malta should revise the current practice that prohibits parole for lifers. "Unfortunately, the restorative justice act that is being discussed in parliament right now explicitly excludes the possibility of conditional release for prisoners on life sentences.  When even convicts accused of serious crimes like genocide by international courts can benefit from conditional release, it is easy to see why the Committee for the Prevention of Torture invited Malta to rethink these rules," MDD said.

The group called for a revision of the parole rules so that lifers who are not a threat to the community can benefit from remission. "This should include giving assistance to relatives of murder victims, who can still be suffering from the trauma of these crimes many years down the line."

Vella was convicted of the murder of the elderly Grima couple, during a burglarly, after they died of asphyxsia when he wrapped brown plastic tape over their mouth and round their head, bound their wrists and legs, as well as attacking Josephine Grima with a blunt object on her head.

Vinter ruling

The European Court of Human Rights' judges ruled by 16 to one there had to be a review of the sentence and the possibility of a release. But they said this did not mean there was "any prospect of imminent release".

The ruling only applies in England and Wales, but lawyers in Malta can ask the courts to consider the sentence in terms of Malta's constitutional law.

Legally, the ECHR ruled years ago that states can lock up dangerous killers forever. Now it says that the prisoner must get a chance to prove at some point that they are reformed.

The three applicants, convicted murderers Jeremy Bamber, Douglas Vinter and Peter Moore, claimed that being denied any prospect of release was a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court found that for a life sentence to remain compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights there had to be both a possibility of release and a possibility of review.

The judges said: "Moreover, if such a prisoner is incarcerated without any prospect of release and without the possibility of having his life sentence reviewed, there is the risk that he can never atone for his offence: whatever the prisoner does in prison, however exceptional his progress towards rehabilitation, his punishment remains fixed and unreviewable.

"If anything, the punishment becomes greater with time: the longer the prisoner lives, the longer his sentence."