Justice trembles as court acquits first suspect not granted lawyer in interrogation

A man accused of drug trafficking has been acquitted in a landmark judgement delivered by the Magistrates Court, as it deemed that evidence had been tainted by the fact that the accused did not have access to a lawyer during interrogation.

The judgement is expected to demolish a number of criminal cases brought before the courts by the police before February 2010 when the right of legal assistance to suspects before interrogation was enacted by law.

Last April, the Constitutional Court held that the right to a fair trial was breached of a man arraigned on drug-related charges, because he was not given the opportunity to consult a lawyer before making a statement to police. Since then, two more cases were decided in a similar manner, and two trials were put off, pending a decision by the Constitutional Court raising fears that the justice system may potentially grind to a halt.

A legal notice was published in 2002 and only enacted by government in February 2010 after it came under pressure from Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono, but the fall-out after years of reluctance by government to enact the law has opened the flood-gates to the possibility of a number of acquittals on the basis of breaches of human rights.

A high-profile murder case, that of 68 year-old Baron Sant Cassia in 1988 may see its main suspect Carmelo Camilleri of Mosta walk free under the landmark judgement, as his lawyer Joseph Giglio has invoked his client’s breach of fundamental human rights when he was not given access to a lawyer during police investigations which were closed 17 years after the murder.

In today’s judgement, Magistrate Marce-anne Farrugia ruled that the accused Alvin Privitera had to be acquitted of all charges, as the only evidence in his case was the statement he gave to the police during interrogation, and he was not granted access to a lawyer.

Privitera was assisted by Franco Debono who told MaltaToday that today’s judgement was a “direct consequence” of the ruling given by the Constitutional Court earlier this year regarding suspects’ access to a lawyer during police investigations.

“The remedies for such breaches of fundamental human rights are expected to vary from case to case, and the fact that a long time passed between the publishing of the law and its actual enactment may have dramatic consequences on the entire criminal justice system."