Criminal Court sees 27% decrease in pending trials by juries

Justice minister Owen Bonnici has hailed the efforts of court staff as he announced positive trends in the efficiency of the justice system.

At a press conference this afternoon, Bonnici praised and personally thanked the administrative staff of the Criminal Court, hailing as unprecedented, a 27% decrease in pending trials by juries. This success, he said, “didn't fall from the heavens,” but was a result of the court staff's hard work bearing fruit.

“Today three appeals are decided for every one appeal filed,” Bonnici said, thanking the judiciary for their part in reducing the backlog of cases.

Bonnici said he was “filled with satisfaction” to see that the court of magistrates, which he said deals with 95% of all criminal cases is also successfully tackling its backlog.

Part of the reason for this, he said, was that he was not waiting for judges and magistrates to resign before appointing new ones.

At the beginning of his tenure, there had been 85 pending trials by jury, which had now decreased to 62, Bonnici said. The number of pending appeals from jury trials had fallen by over 50%, from 61 to 28, he said, adding that the clearance rate had also “exploded.”

“We are heading in the right direction with regards to juries,” Bonnici said, adding that this was strengthening the public's trust in this aspect of justice. “We never hear anything negative about how juries are conducted,” the minister added.

Furthermore, he announced a small increase to the honoraria paid to jurors.

On the topic of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Bonnici stopped short of condemning the former Nationalist MP for his outburst against magistrate Francesco Depasquale, after the latter declined to treat libels filed by the Prime Minister and his Chief of Staff against Daphne Caruana Galizia with urgency.

Asked about Pullicino Orlando's Facebook comment, which had suggested the magistrate should be ashamed of himself for turning down the request, the minister said: “I didn't agree with the decision and felt disappointed that the request was not upheld but I always honour the courts' decisions.”

Bonnici's reply echoes that by the OPM which, in a reaction to the decree, said it “respects the court’s decision and will continue to cooperate at all stages.”