Amendments to pre-trial arrest legislation approved by parliament

Parliament on Tuesday unanimously voted in favour of a Bill to extend the pre-trial arrest period for individuals who are suspects of serious crimes.

The bill on arrest and detention will allow the arrest of persons reasonably suspected of serious crimes carrying a punishment of 12 years imprisonment or more, to be extended by a maximum of another 48 hours by order of the Magistrate – which will be added to the 48 that already existed.

The law requires Constitutional amendments, and will come into effect when the President signs it into law.

Addressing the House, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard said the law will be offering a more effective tool for police to handle serious crimes.

“As was emphasized even at Committee stage, the applicability of this law should be the exception and not the rule. This is a law that also reflects steps taken in other countries to respond to complex crimes that have developed over the years,” the minister said.

Government had initially sought to extend the period to 84 hours, instead of 48, but concerns had been raised by Nationalist MPs Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Mario de Marco.

“We want to continue working for a society where everyone, without any distinction, is accountable for their actions but we also want to ensure that the laws respect the fundamental rights and the need for an objective justification for the measures that are taken. These are two important pieces of legislation in the work being carried out for a more efficient and effective justice and the fight against crime,” Attard said.

Amendments to the legislation relating to the proceeds of crime were also approved, limiting the amount of assets frozen and eventually confiscated on the amount suspected to have been acquired through an illicit activity.

Currently, someone accused of a financial crime can have most of their property seized by the court.

The new law aims to proportionalise the assets frozen by the court with the crime someone is being investigated or accused of.

These amendments establish, among others, the obligation to identify the property and specific assets that should be subject to a Seizure and Freezing Order and the power of the Court to vary such order, at the request of the Defendant or of the Prosecutor.

The law also introduces the possibility of an increase in the amount that can be released to the accused for sustaining himself and his family's while the case is pending. Procedurally it will also be the Criminal Court, which after deciding on the guilt will be establishing and identifying the value and the assets that should be confiscated.

“We want to continue working for a society where everyone, without any distinction, is accountable for their actions but we also want to ensure that the laws respect the fundamental rights and the need for an objective justification for the measures that are taken. These are two important pieces of legislation in the work being carried out for a more efficient and effective justice and the fight against crime,” Attard said.

In 2020, then Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi had called for an extension to the time period in which suspects can be detained without charge by the police in certain serious cases.

He had said that over the years he had observed that the 48 hours of arrest allowed by law did not allow sufficient time for police investigators to properly investigate the most serious crimes.