Jamie Vella must end hunger strike for discussions to begin, prison head says

Jamie Vella, one of the men indicted on charges relating to the procurement of the bomb used to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, must end his prison hunger strike before discussions about his complaint about the quality of food which he is being provided in prison can begin, according to the prison director.

Vella, who is also understood to suffer from type-2 diabetes, is protesting about the quality of food with which he is being provided whilst in prison, awaiting trial.

His lawyer, Ishmael Psaila, is expected to file a judicial protest about the issue, before the First Hall of the Civil Court later today, on behalf of the accused man.

Vella stands accused, together with brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, known as tal-Maksar, in connection with the 2017 murder of Caruana Galizia and the 2015 murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop. He has been detained under preventive arrest for the past 16 months, with all bail requests filed to date being denied.

The man’s defence counsel claims to have filed several complaints with the prison authorities but that promises to address the issue seems to have remained unfulfilled, despite Vella offering to pay for his food himself.

Contacted for his reply to the inmate’s claims, prison director Robert Brincau explained that Vella’s complaint was something of a bolt from the blue, as well as a rarity.
“We found out [about the hunger strike] on the 26th and the story came out in the news on the 27th.”

“It is a one-off. We haven’t had any complaints about food for over 4 months, apart from minor gripes,” Brincat said.

The director explained that the procedure in such cases was not to discuss the contentious issue with the inmate until the hunger strike was over. 

“First of all, he must stop the hunger strike for us to begin the discussion. Secondly, when he does this, it does not mean that we will necessarily accept his demands.”

“Every request by our prisoners is discussed by the administration and we are trying to establish the underlying problem.”

Such issues could be resolved through an established procedure, Brincau stressed. “This was something which spiked all of a sudden. Complaints about food are minimal and usually frivolous.”

“We are waiting for him to stop his hunger strike so that we may resolve the matter through discussion,” the director said.