Explosives plot: Court throws out request to stay proceedings over police intelligence disclosure

A court has denied a request for an interim measure by Jomic Calleja, who is accused of trying to import a military explosive known as Composition 4, or C4.

Calleja had filed a constitutional case asking the court to order the police to disclose the intelligence they had about the accused, citing the principle of equality of arms.

He also requested an interim measure so the criminal proceedings are stopped until the constitutional case is decided on.

The request for an interim measure was thrown out by the court. Judge Ian Spiteri Bailey noted in his judgement such requests for interim measures are only granted by the court in exceptional cases, when the applicant would otherwise face a real risk of serious and irreversible harm.

“In practice, interim measures are applied only in a limited number of areas and most concern expulsion and extradition,” he said, quoting the European Court of Human Rights.

Calleja was arrested in 2020 after the police carried out a controlled delivery of a package that had been intercepted and found to contain the military-grade explosive C4. The interception was the result of cooperation between foreign and local intelligence services.

It was also revealed in court that Calleja had discussed importing the poisonous radioactive substance polonium, which has been used in the past to poison targets of assassination attempts, famously in the case of Alexander Litvinenko.

Lawyer Julian Farrugia appeared on behalf of the Office of the State Advocate, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police.

Lawyer Benjamin Valenzia represented Calleja.