Maltese courts have 102 pending trials by jury, waiting since 2008

Pending trials concern 119 accused, with 82 pending trials yet to be appointed because of constitutional cases or ongoing preliminary pleas

1 February 2023, 11:24am
by Matthew Vella

1 min read

The Maltese courts are yet to hear 102 trials by jury for serious crimes

Malta’s ongoing delays in the courts have resulted in 102 pending trials by jury, mainly for serious crimes, stretching as far back as 2008 – fifteen years ago.

The pending trials have a total of 119 accused, with 13 such trials for 16 accused appointed; seven trials, mainly recently appointed, are yet to be appointed.

The other 82 pending trials, concerning 96 accused, cannot yet take place because of various reasons, said justice minister Jonathan Attard in a parliamentary question from Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina.

These include constitutional procedures and referals that hold up the continuation of pre-trial compilation of evidence, cases in which preliminary pleas are still ongoing, while others are awaiting psychiatric reports on the accused.

The exact numbers are three pending trials from 2008; one from 2009; two from 2012; 2013 (4), 2015 (6), 2016 (1), 2017 (8), 2018 (8), 2019 (2), 2020 (6), 2021 (11), 2022 (40), and five in 2023.

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...