Times of Malta
Issue resurfaces in court as prosecutors object to bail for alleged drug traffickers
A legal provision barring bail for people accused of drug trafficking within 20 days of their arraignment was invoked in court on Friday, despite having been declared in breach of human rights 24 years ago.
The clause resurfaced during the arraignment of five men on charges including drug trafficking, organised crime and money laundering. A lawyer from the Attorney General’s office argued that, under Malta’s drug laws, the accused could not be granted bail before 20 days had elapsed.
Defence lawyer Franco Debono argued in court that the provision had been struck down by a constitutional judgement in 2002, and that no prosecutor had invoked it since.
The exchange triggered an hour-long debate until it emerged that parliament had never amended the law to reflect the constitutional court’s ruling. This left the invalidated clause on the statute books for 24 years.
Magistrate Jean Paul Grech suspended the sitting to examine the 2002 judgement. When the hearing resumed, he ordered that a copy of his decree be sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Justice Minister so that the law is finally brought in line with the constitutional ruling.
The five accused were ultimately denied bail on other grounds, with the prosecution citing a real fear of tampering with evidence.
‘Incompatible with human rights’
The provision, found in Article 27 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, bars courts from granting bail to a person charged with selling or trafficking drugs until 20 days have passed from the date of arraignment, or until the compilation of evidence is concluded, whichever comes first.
In the 2002 judgement Godfrey Ellul vs the Attorney General, the constitutional court confirmed a first court’s finding that this ban was incompatible with the right to liberty protected by the European Convention of Human Rights, because it stripped magistrates of the power to weigh the circumstances for or against a person’s detention at a stage when they are still presumed innocent.
At the time, the constitutional court had ordered its registrar to send a copy of the judgement to the Speaker of the House to notify the parliament that the law needed changing.
However, 24 years on, the provision remains on the statute books unamended.
Caught packaging drugs, court told
On Friday, five men were arraigned in court and charged after a coordinated police operation targeting properties in Għaxaq and Żabbar on Wednesday.
The men are Emerson Bugeja, Shaian Vella, Clayton Gatt, Daniel Inguanez and Nicholas Richard Hansford Magri.
All five were charged with conspiring to sell or traffic synthetic cannabinoids and with promoting, organising or financing an organised criminal group, as well as with belonging to that group.
Bugeja, Vella and Hansford Magri were further charged with trafficking synthetic cannabinoids and with aggravated possession of the substance, with the offences allegedly committed within 100 metres of a school, club or youth centre.
