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Karl Schembri
The Chilean Navy officer wanted for the 1999 attempted murder of Joseph Spiteri is believed to be facing a bail of up to US$1 million (Lm350k) to be allowed out of the Miami prison until the Florida Federal Court decides on his extradition to Malta.
Sources close to the Chilean armada have told MaltaToday that Lieutenant Hernán Sepúlveda Mery may be given the option to pay “a very expensive guarantee” for his provisional release pending a court decision, something they estimate to be anywhere between US$0.5 million and US1 million.
The high price of Sepúlveda’s conditional freedom is mainly pegged to the exceptional circumstances of his arrest, which warrants extra guarantees that the wanted sailor would appear before the court when summoned. They admit however that a bail is in any case difficult to obtain because of extradition procedures initiated on Malta’s request.
His defence team led by Eduardo Palmer is said to be working to get the American judicial authorities to accede to the payment of bail, as the Chilean Navy is exerting its utmost pressure through diplomatic channels in the US and Rome – where the Chilean Ambassador to Malta resides – to seek an “extrajudicial agreement” with Malta so that Sepúlveda could return to his country.
Sepúlveda, 27, was arrested late last month after his honeymoon with Carolina Herrmann in Disneyland, upon instructions from Malta, in the light of a pending arrest warrant issued through Interpol. He was the cadet who while training on board the elite navy ship Esmeralda six years ago, was identified by Spiteri as the man who stabbed him three times in Paceville.
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