Mafia boss extradition to be decided tomorrow

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja is expected to take a decision on the extradition of Sicilian Mafia boss Sebastiano Brunno tomorrow after his lawyers requested the court declare the proceedings null.

Defence lawyers Roberto Montaldo and Roberta Spiteri argued that the European Arrest Warrant under which he was to be extradited was based on a sentence that was subsequently amended, rendering the warrant (and, by extension, the arrest) null.

Contesting the alleged nullity, Deputy Attorney General Donatella Frendo Dimech told the court that Brunno had been sentenced to life imprisonment plus one year solitary confinement.

She claimed that the amendment to the sentence was simply to amend the duration of Brunno's solitary confinement, Frendo Dimech maintained that in spite of the change to the charges, the sentence was ultimately the same one and the definitive life sentence imposed on Brunno remained unchanged.

A 2009 judgment had found the 56 year-old Brunno guilty, in his absence, of a 1992 murder, attempted murder and of possession of weapons. He had been on the run ever since. In July this year, the Italian police secured a European Arrest Warrant for his arrest.

The Italian prosecutor had originally announced that Brunno had also been sentenced for attempted murder, however during todays sittings it was found that that no judgment had ever been delivered for this offence.

Brunno was arrested by Maltese police on October 2 in Bugibba, following an operation involving both Maltese and Sicilian police and is currently being held in preventive custody.