Prisoner claiming illegal arrest invokes Constitution after magistrate's court's abstention

A man who is currently in prison on the strength of a police statement he released without legal assistance, has requested the Constitutional court declare that his fundamental human rights had been breached and order his immediate release.

Last Friday, Magistrate Ian Farrugia had held that the Court of Magistrates lacked the jurisdiction to decide the issue raised in an urgent application, filed that morning by lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Kris Busietta and Julian Farrugia, on behalf of 40-year-old Trevor Bonnici.

Bonnici, who is currently serving time for a drug-related offence, had demanded that the courts order his immediate release as he had been convicted solely on the strength of a statement that he had released during his 20-hour interrogation, in the absence of any legal assistance. Although now illegal, this practise was permissible at the time of his arrest in 2004.

The latest application, which is signed by lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Kris Busietta and Evelyn Borg Costanzi, argued that Bonnici's fundamental right to liberty and freedom of movement as well as to a fair trial had been breached. It points out that the charges on which he had released his statement on carried a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life and were, therefore, very serious.

In the application, the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction is being asked to declare that Bonnici's statement was taken and used against him in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and annul his sentence, which had been confirmed on appeal.

As his sentence was null, his lawyers argue , it followed that his continued imprisonment was also illegal and he must therefore be acquitted and released immediately, or failing that be released on bail pending the outcome of this case.

He is also seeking damages for the breach of his rights.