Degiorgios cede constitutional challenge over bail refusals

George and Alfred Degiorgio have ceded a constitutional case they had filed earlier this year over their continued detention without bail.

The Degiorgio brothers have been remanded in custody, awaiting trial for the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, ever since their arrest in Marsa, two months after the 2017 assassination.

Since their arrest in December 2017, the Degiorgios have filed many bail requests before both the Magistrates’ Court and the Criminal Court. Every request was turned down on the ground that releasing the men from arrest would risk public disorder. 

They had also filed constitutional proceedings in June this year, arguing that the courts’ refusals to release them from pre-trial detention had breached their fundamental rights.

The case had been assigned to Madam Justice Miriam Hayman, during the course of which the brothers had testified about the conditions in which they were being held in prison.

A sitting in those proceedings was scheduled for this afternoon, but will now not be taking place in view of a note filed by lawyer William Cuschieri on behalf of the Degiorgios, ceding the case. 

No reason for the withdrawal of the claim was given in the note.