Daniel Muka's human rights claim is thrown out by judge

A court has dismissed a human rights breach claim filed by the man accused of murdering Christian Pandolfino and Ivor Piotr Maciejowski at their Sliema home in August 2020.

Lawyers for Daniel Muka had filed the constitutional case in January this year, claiming that the absence of a system to electronically tag suspects in Malta, and by extension, Muka’s continued detention without bail, constituted a breach of his fundamental rights.

In a judgement handed down on Tuesday, Mr. Justice Francesco Depasquale, presiding the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction, pointed out that while the introduction of an electronic tagging system could be an incentive for inmates to reintegrate into society, this possibility already existed in the form of parole.

“In the case of the applicant, who is facing not one but two indictments, committed over a span of three years, for grave and violent offences, to the extent that in the second case two persons were murdered inside their home in cold blood, certainly the gravity of the charges and other circumstances were such that the existence of an electronic tagging system would have been superfluous to any court’s decision on bail.”

Quoting from a 2021 decision to a similar request that had been made by assassins Alfred and George Degiorgio, the court noted that the concept of electronic tagging was geared more towards ensuring a defendant’s attendance for sittings, said the judge, observing that the Criminal Court’s rejections of his bail requests did not appear to be based on the risk of him absconding, but were concerned with him disturbing the ongoing investigation, “something which could happen irrespective of whether the accused is wearing an electronic tag or not.”

Muka is reported to have already attempted to escape from prison in 2020, the bid having been foiled by prison guards.

Without referring to that incident directly, the judge said that no guarantee or condition imposed by the court, including an electronic tag, could stop Muka from absconding from the Maltese islands, “it is a well-known fact that it is very easy to escape from Malta by sea, considering the short distance to Sicily and the existence of sea craft which can, at considerable speed and therefore in a short timeframe, easily cross to Sicily without being intercepted in any way.”

The judge said it was relevant to note that Muka’s trial had been scheduled to begin in May 2022, but had been delayed by his filing of preliminary pleas, all of which were rejected the following October. 

The Constitutional case regarding electronic tagging had been filed in January 2023, after Muka had filed an appeal to the October decision, which was ultimately confirmed at appeal stage.

Another trial date was set for May 2023, but also had to be postponed after Muka’s lawyers renounced the brief. His trial is set to begin next week, noted the judge, “bar some new unexpected development.”

“In the case at hand, the risk of the applicant absconding is a real one, and despite the guarantees which he presented and compiled in the hope of being released from prison, the best way of ensuring that the applicant does not abscond from Malta, thereby escaping criminal proceedings in which he is accused of the murder of two persons inside their own home. Is that he is held in prison until he is judged."

State Advocate Christopher Soler and lawyer Julian Farrugia represented the State in the proceedings.