Questions on Nicholas Azzopardi case remain unanswered

Three months into the latest enquiry into the Nicholas Azzopardi case, the family of the man who died in April 2008 after suffering grievous injuries while in custody of the Police at the depot in Floriana, are anxiously waiting for news on the outcome of the investigations.

In November 2012, Magistrate Antonio Vella had been asked by the Attorney General Peter Grech and Police Commissioner John Rizzo to reopen the inquiry for the umpteenth time since the incident in 2008, this over the CCTV footage used.

A number of witnesses were called to testify in November, however Azzopardi's family are still awaiting news on whether the fourth inquiry of its kind has been concluded and what conclusions were reached.

A number of factors led to reservations on the way the case was dealt with from the very beginning, staring from the alleged child abuse claims leading up to his death bed at hospital.

Apart from a police investigation initiated just hours after the incident, Judge Albert Manche was appointed to hold an inquiry by former home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, in conjunction with the magisterial inquiry held by Magistrate Anthony Vella in 2008. All inquiries concluded that there was no wrongdoing and the evidence presented by court experts corroborated the police's version of the incident.

Early on in 2012, Magistrate Vella was appointed to reopen the inquiry after it emerged that a key witness in the case, shamed former Police officer Adrian Lia, was arrested in March over the theft of €30,000, originally confiscated from illegal lotto booths from the Floriana Depot.

The case resurfaced after Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced amnesty and protection for whoever has information on what led to Nicholas Azzopardi's death in October.

Thirteen persons were revealed to have fallen from the bastions beneath the police headquarters' CID offices, in a reply to parliamentary question to the Prime Minister which opened up new speculation on the Nicholas Azzopardi case.

In November, Attorney General Peter Grech confirmed that Commissioner John Rizzo had requested to have the inquiry referred back to Magistrate Vella to "examine whether persistent allegations about the alleged doctoring of CCTV footage are justified".

This shed doubt on the footage prepared and analysed by court expert Martin Bajada and fuelled suspicions that investigations, evidence and conclusions reached by all inquiries were flawed. 

The new inquiry was expected to include Bajada as a witness in which he was expected to answer questions over the authenticity of the footage presented and explain and provide the audit trail he kept for the omitted CCTV footage and explain whether the original unedited footage is still available.

This week, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said: "We do not want to hear of any more deaths at the Police Depot or of people falling off."

Speaking on Wednesday during the Labour Party's launch of its electoral manifesto, Muscat also said that a new Labour government would ensure greater surveillance in the Police depot through surveillance systems, even in lock-ups "to ensure that no abuses take place".

On 8 April 2008, Nicholas Azzopardi, 38, was called into the Police Headquarters in Floriana on allegations of domestic violence filed by his estranged wife. After being kept at the depot overnight under arrest, Azzopardi was interrogated by police sergeant Adrian Lia and PC Reuben Zammit, under supervision of Inspector Graziella Muscat.

Following the six-hour interrogation, the police claimed that Azzopardi had injured himself while trying to escape. He was rushed to hospital suffering severe injuries to the chest, head and nape.

On 18 April 2008, Azzopardi told his family that he had been severely beaten by the police - referring specifically to two unnumbered officers "in blue" after regaining consciousness.

Azzopardi died on 22 April, barely two hours after testifying before Magistrate Antonio Vella, however his deathbed testimony was not recorded. Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar was also present for this interrogation, despite being administratively responsible for the concurrent internal police inquiry.

The autopsy later pointed toward thrombosis as the cause of death. However his family insisted they had been prevented from entering Azzopardi's ward on the day he died. They also claimed to have purchased medication specifically for thrombosis, but this was taken away from them on the promise that it would be administered by hospital staff.