Judge throws out request to stop FBI from testifying in Caruana Galizia murder proceedings

A judge has, in the most forceful of terms, rejected a request for an interim measure that would have prevented FBI agents from testifying in the compilation of evidence against Alfred Degiorgio who, together with two others, stands accused of the murder Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Lawyer William Cuschieri had also argued that his client’s rights would be prejudiced if the foreign experts were allowed to testify next week because they had worked with court-appointed IT expert Martin Bajada.

As Bajada had been convicted of a crime in the 1990s, it would not be in the best interests of the administration of justice that he continue to work on the case, argued Cuschieri.

But in her judgment on the urgent request which was filed just last week, Judge Lorraine Schembri Orland observed that the complaint was not one of irreparable harm during the compilation of evidence against Degiorgio, but of the media coverage that his case would garner.

“He argues that if the FBI agents are allowed to testify it would be too late for a remedy due to the media reporting on the case,” noted the court.

“Apart from the fact that the public nature of the judicial process is in itself a guarantee of a fair hearing, this complaint has nothing to do with the context of this case and is therefore simply frivolous and vexatious.”

It was true that there were decrees on requests which were made by the FBI together with Martin Bajada, but the court said it could not ignore the fact that the appointment of the FBI was separate and made to “assist the inquiring magistrate.”

“At this early stage, the presumption is in favour of the integrity and technical capacity of the FBI investigators…There is nothing in the request that induces this court to conclude that there is an imminent risk that the investigators are not going to testify on the data they gathered and give their conclusions and evaluations. It may be that eventually the evidence shows otherwise but this court cannot put the cart before the horse on simply on the basis of the applicant’s suppositions.”

Therefore the court, after considering the request for the interim measure, said it felt that the nexus between the motivation for the request and the evidence “is so stretched that it is lacking in the seriousness requested and expected in proceedings such as these”.

In the light of this, the court said the request for the interim measure, preventing the FBI from testifying was “manifestly vain and vexatious,” and rejected it.