Magistrate orders return of convicted Sicilian mafioso, lawyers mulling human rights case

A court has ordered the return of 32-year-old Gianluca Caruso to Sicily, in order to serve a prison sentence following his conviction on charges related to organised crime and drug trafficking, upholding a request made by the Italian judicial authorities.

Caruso had been contesting the request for his rendition on the basis of what his lawyers said was the Italian authorities’ failure to guarantee that he would be held in conditions where his fundamental human rights would not be breached.

In a judgement handed down on Friday, Magistrate Leonard Caruana rejected Caruso’s contestation to the European Arrest Warrant issued against him by Italy, declaring that there were no bars to extradition.

The magistrate said that, although Caruso’s lawyer had raised a potential breach of his fundamental human rights as one of the grounds on which the extradition was being contested, his court was not the correct forum to tackle that issue. “Here, the court is not saying that the complaints about the alleged breaches of the fundamental rights of the requested person should not be examined, but that this court is not the forum equipped to examine it, which examination…requires an in-depth evaluation of the submissions as well as the evidence which either of the involved parties may have.”

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Jurisprudence had established that in such cases, the role of the Court of Magistrates was to ensure that the requisite elements for the execution of a European Arrest Warrant were satisfied, as its remit was limited to criminal law, as was the Court of Criminal Appeal.

The magistrate ordered that Caruso be held in police custody until he could be returned to Italy.

Following today’s unfavourable decision, Caruso is understood to be planning to file a human rights case.

Police Inspector Roderick Spiteri prosecuted together with lawyer Sean Xerri De Caro from the Office of the Attorney General.

Lawyers Charles Mercieca and Jacob Magri were defence counsel.