Alfred Degiorgio claims Constitutional rights breach

One of the men accused of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Alfred Degiorgio, has filed further Constitutional proceedings arguing that his rights have been violated.

In the applications, filed by Lawyer William Cuschieri on Monday, Degiorgio argued that the decision to allow the FBI to testify was taken before the window for his appeal had closed and that arrest warrants had been executed by the police in an illegal manner.

Cuschieri said that the law states that the arrest warrants must be made in triplicate, with a copy being given to the magistrate and one to the person arrested. Despite this, the police had failed to give Degiorgio a copy of the warrant at the moment of his arrest, argued the lawyer.

In addition, third parties who were not police officers – foreign experts – had been allowed to work in the properties searched by the police, despite the fact that the warrant only allowed police officers to do so.

This breached Degiorgio’s rights, argued his lawyer.

In a Constitutional case filed on Monday, he asked the Constitutional Court to declare that Degiorgio’s right to a fair hearing, right to an effective remedy were breached by the testimony of FBI agents, and demanded their evidence be discarded. 

The cases have been assigned to judges Mark Chetcuti and Lorraine Schembri Orland.