Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1318996
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 DECEMBER 2020 NEWS 'I am not a judge in anyone's case' MATTHEW AGIUS DUTCH MP Pieter Omtzigt has replied to one of Yorgen Fenech's lawyers – who wrote to him asking for "intervention or guidance" on the "inflamma- tory and prejudicial press cam- paign" against Fenech – saying that the request was some- thing that he "had thought was self-evidently inappropriate." Omtzigt, the rapporteur of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe for follow up on the report on Daphne Caru- ana Galizia's assassination and the rule of law in Malta, wrote a withering reply to a British law- yer working for Yorgen Fenech, after he petitioned Omtzigt on his rule of law report Europe and then complained of hav- ing been wilfully ignored by the campaigning MP. The reply comes after lawyer Wayne Jordash, of Doughty Street Chambers – the same of- fice that petitioned the Maltese government for a public inquiry into the Caruana Galizia assas- sination – accused Omtzigt of betraying his confidence and ignoring his letters requesting him to see to Fenech's fair trial concerns. "I realise now that you have been labouring under a funda- mental misunderstanding of my function as an international oversight mechanism," wrote Omtzigt. "My role is to super- vise Malta's fulfilment of its international obligations. My concerns relate to the exist- ence, regulation and proper ap- plication of the state apparatus that is required to fulfil those obligations. I am not a judge in anyone's case, nor anyone's ad- vocate or legal advisor." "So when you 'sought…my in- tervention and/or guidance on how to ameliorate the inflam- matory and prejudicial press campaign that has the potential – and is likely – to have under- mined Mr. Fenech's fair trial rights', you were asking me to do something that I had (mis- takenly) thought was self-evi- dently inapproprpiate." Fenech had his own legal team to advise him on these matters and to present any complaints to the appropriate domestic au- thorities, said Omtzigt. "I am not part of anyone's team, and I do not give legal advice." Fenech's counsel had object- ed to statements by private cit- izens, in particular, members of the grieving family, on social media or in press reports but had not mentioned any efforts by Fenech to raise his com- plaints before domestic bodies, he said. "Even given your mis- understanding of my role, it is surprising that Mr. Fenech ex- pected me to raise these issues with the Maltese authorities even before he had instructed his own team of lawyers to do so. Once again: I am nobody's advocate." The responsibility of safe- guarding Fenech's fair trial rights lied with Malta's judges, said Omtzigt, "my role is to see whether they do their job." If Fenech chose not to bring his complaints before those judges, said the MP, "he cannot expect me to do their job instead." Jordash's letters "contained several references to interna- tional case-law but little in the way of relevant particulars…I would be concerned if Mr. Fenech were denied his right to legal assistance of his own choosing. How Mr. Fenech's lawyers present his case, how- ever, is not my concern." Omtzigt rebutted the asser- tion that he 'acted in support of the prosecution' arguing that he has often criticised the investigation and prosecution of the Caruana Galizia murder case and noting that "you pro- vide no details to support this claim." He also pointed out that Jor- dash had not expressed a wish that the correspondence be- tween him and the MP be pri- vate and that, in any case, "it would have been unethical for me to conceal the fact that I had been asked for help by the person accused of being the instigator of the murder plot from which my report arose." "It is regrettable that I have been forced to continue our correspondence in public, but your aggressively public out- burst makes it necessary for me to clarify my position in an open letter," Omtzigt wrote, adding that he "need not take lessons on how to fulfil my in- dependent and impartial man- date from the paid representav- ie of someone with a personal interest in these matters." Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt