Labour points fingers at Justice Minister over crisis in criminal court

Speaking in front of the law courts this morning, Labour’s justice spokesperson Jose Herrera and Labour’s Home Affairs spokesman Michael Falzon said that Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici had introduced the law in the wrong manner.

“The criminal court is currently being faced with a number of judgements being appealed before the constitutional court as the main evidence against the accused would have been based on his admission during the police interview,” the MPs said.

Herrera said that since no lawyer would have been present during the interrogation, the accused can now appeal the judgement on the basis of a breach of human right.

Landmark rulings a few weeks ago at the Constitutional Court confirmed that suspects denied access to a lawyer during police interrogation had their human rights breached.

“The accused, whether guilty or not, can now be freed,” Herrera said. 

In 1995, a ruling at the European court had established that an accused should legally be assisted by a lawyer during an interrogation. In 2002, Malta had introduced the law but it was only in 2010 that the law was put into force – following a motion put forward by the Labour Party.

“But the manner in which the law was introduced leads for an anomaly where the accused can now appeal of his sentence on the basis that when he was interrogated by the police, no lawyer was present,” Herrera said. He added that now all cases before 2010 can be appealed in this manner, whilst it can have ripple effects on several pending criminal cases.

Asked what solutions the Opposition was putting forward, the PL said that it was calling on the Minister to shoulder political responsibility and at this stage it was also calling for the responsible authorities to see how this problem can be solved.

The PL also claimed that when the law was introduced, the Police had not prepared itself to operate according to the new law: “As forensic investigation has weakened, the court has now to rest on the accused’s statement,” Falzon said, whilst adding that Police should be well-prepared and given the resources to conduct its investigations.

The Labour MPs also claimed that having the same minister responsible for both Justice and Home Affairs was conflicting.