Court notifications to be sent electronically in pilot project

Court notifications will be sent electronically in a pilot project which will kick off from criminal cases before Magistrate Francesco Depasquale. The pilot project was made possible following a number of amendments to the Criminal Code approved by Parliament.

Through several amendments to the Criminal Code, it was agreed that first time offences which do not carry a fine exceeding €200 will not be listed in one’s criminal record.

Briefing journalists on the amendments, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici had words of praise for the cooperation he found from the Nationalist Opposition.

“The amendments were approved almost unanimously and the Opposition gave a very constructive input,” Bonnici said.

Once the new IT system in the issuance of notifications related to criminal court cases is tried and tested, the government will move to implementing another part of the law which will allow a court to hand down its judgement, even if the summonsed does not appear in court.

The amendments will also allow a court to order community service when a person receives a suspended of sentence of more than six months.

Maximum prison sentence will increase from 30 to 40 years, excluding life sentence; committing crimes abroad while on a suspended sentence will now be considered as relapsing.

Other amendments include harshening of fines against individuals found guilty of racism, domestic violence and vandalism and the introduction of stalking as a crime.