New magistrates: Bonello Commission recommendations disregarded, say lawyers

The Chamber of Advocates has expressed its concern at the new appointments of magistrates – two former Labour officials – in which government disregarded the recommendations of the Bonello Commission on the reform of the justice system, despite its apparent commitment to implement these recommendations.

The appointment of former Labour international secretary Joseph Mifsud, and sitting deputy mayor Monica Vella, for server as mayor of Xewkija in Gozo for 11 years, was announced on Saturday evening at 7:15pm by government statement.

“The Bonello recommendations on the appointment of members of the judiciary are key in the overall reform to the justice system which the Chamber has on numerous occasions supported and continues to support. It is the implementation of those recommendations however, which sets the benchmark against which the government’s commitment to reform the justice system will be measured, and not the articulation of words of support,” the Chamber said.

“When the opportunity to implement recommendations, which the government has expressed support to presents itself and is foregone, the level and intensity of the political will and commitment to carry out the reform is, with reason, questioned.

“Inadequate regard to important institutional recommendations aimed at enhancing credibility in the judicial system, continues to undermine public confidence in the current judicial system,” the Chamber said.

The commission for the holistic reform of the justice system, headed by former European Court of Human Rights judge Giovanni Bonello, had disagreed with the way judges are appointed in Malta, lamenting the lack of transparency in the selection process and having no fixed criteria of determining who is the person most fit for the post.

The Bonello Commission proposed that it would be a specialised authority to make the selection process, while the government, as much as possible, acts according to the advice of that Authority when taking the final decision.

The anglo-saxon system works by selecting lawyers in private practice and then carrying out a selection process by an independent commission that recommends the appointment of a judge to the executive.

The Bonello Commission also porposed that lawyers who practice their profession in court be given preference. "A good judge must be well trained in procedural law and such experience gained by forensic practice."

In its statement, the Chamber congratulated Magistrates Miriam Hayman and Giovanni Grixti in their recent appointment as judges of the Superior Courts, and Monica Vella and Joseph Mifsud on their new appointment to the Court of Magistrates. “The Chamber would like to take this opportunity to auger them well in their tasks ahead.”