Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1363129
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 APRIL 2021 NEWS Corradino population now over 860 inmates MATTHEW VELLA NINE environmental and civic action NGOs have written to environment minister Aaron Farrugia, calling for the remov- al of Prof. Victor Axiak from his post as head of the Environ- ment and Resources Authority. The NGOs accused Axiak of "repeatedly and unashamedly during the last few years, acted and voted against the environ- mental well-being of this coun- try." "Instead of acting as a guard- ian for our limited environ- mental resources, and duly guiding ERA to behave as an authority and regulator, Axiak has consistently chosen to ally himself with developers and road-builders, thus ignoring objections and concerns about conservation, but also public well-being," the NGOs said in their strongly-worded letter signed by Extinction Rebellion Malta, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth, Malta Youth in Agriculture (MaYA) Foun-dation, Movi- ment Graffitti, Nature Trust, Ramblers' Association, Rota, and The Archaeological Soci- ety. They said Axiak had used his vote on the PA board to "jus- tify the destruction of huge swathes of arable land" by giv- ing ERA's blessing to the Cen- tral Link project. "This is deeply ironic, because arable land can be considered to be an environmental resource, but the road-building spree is working in the opposite direc- tion at breakneck speed. We cannot count on a fair and just representation of facts if the ERA and its head are unable to understand, let alone mitigate the damage road-building is doing to our green spaces." The ERA also gave the green light to the destruction of mature carob trees in Dingli, appeasing the plans for road- works the Transport Ministry and its road-building agency. "This, too, is in direct contra- diction of ERA's mission state- ment." They lobbed similar accusa- tions on the lack of objection to the building of a roundabout in Burmarrad, which is expect- ed to service a proposed ODZ supermarket and will take up private agricultural land as well as potentially damage the wa- ter supply all the way to Sali- na. Over 6,000 citizens and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage have objected to this development, but the environ- mental regulator is nowhere to be seen. "It is only natural for us to wonder aloud whether ERA has been secretly taken over by the above-mentioned ministry. In fact, we were less than sur- prised to read that your regu- lator has found no objection to the redevelopment of the Pul- vich fireworks factory in Ding- li, despite objections back in 2017. Now that Infrastructure Malta has laid out electrici- ty and water services leading to the factory's site – without any permits whatsoever, as is now customary – ERA has al- so dropped its concerns about this project," the NGOs said. The NGOs accused Axiak of "repeated, dishonest behav- iour" and demanded his sub- stitution with a "dedicated, motivated and independent individual, who has no current or previous links with develop- ers, business groups and oth- er lobbies, and who can truly guide the ERA into becoming a respectable regulator, instead of a rubber-stamping entity that follows the whims of other authorities or key government personnel." Contacted for comment, Axi- aq insisted the examples men- tioned by the NGOs were "not objective at all". "I always, together with my colleagues on the board, took the advice of our technical people when necessary, which were always justified," he said, saying there times when chang- es to projects were necessary and were made. "For example on the DB pro- ject, the Marsascala pitch, where is the objective outlook? I absolutely think that is not right at all. At the same time I understand that may be objec- tions… but if you end up saying that I always facilitated devel- opers it is pitiful to say so," Ax- iak said, "Persons who follow the meeting of the PA board will know if the statement is objec- tive or not. I never let myself be placed in the pocket of the de- veloper or the politician or any lobby or NGO. I always voted according to my conscience and reports I had." The NGOs also asked that ERA board meetings be open to the public, allowing citizens to make their representation, and that any votes taken dur- ing these meetings no longer be kept secret, but every board member's vote logged and pub- lished. The NGOs reiterated their call for a legal amendments to allow NGOs to have an auto- matic judicial interest in any appeals presented to the EPRT. "In 2019, a budget measure had capped the fees for EPRT ap- peals to a maximum of €1000 for eNGOs. Therefore, we think it's a contradiction – as well as a waste of time and resources for both parties involved – that an eNGO is told that it has no legal standing in a matter after three sittings, including sub- missions, paperwork, and the payment of fees." NGOs: ERA head Victor Axiak must go NGOs accused ERA head Prof. Victor Axiak of consistently choosing to ally himself with developers and road- builders CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The system is being viewed as a means to help rehabilita- tion but it is also expected to ease some of the pressure from the prison facility, which has a problem of overpopulation. Electronic monitoring will only be available to those con- victed of crimes punishable by effective imprisonment of not more than one year, provided the offence committed does not carry a maximum jail sen- tence of two years, government sources said. This automatically excludes people convicted over serious offences such as domestic vio- lence, who will not be eligible to benefit from an electronic mon- itoring order. Bail is also "strict- ly excluded" from the proposal, the sources added. But electronic tagging is ex- pected to be introduced at law for inmates eligible for prison leave and parole, allowing the Correctional Services Agency to better monitor their where- abouts. "Electronic tagging will give the community greater peace of mind for cases that involve in- mates who are already eligible for prison leave and parole but it will also stop people convicted of minor crimes from stepping into the Correctional Facility, facilitating their reintegration into society," the sources said. The remote monitoring tech- nology has been used by the Correctional Services Agency over the past year-and-a-half in a pilot project. In December 2019, eight low-risk prisoners were tagged and granted prison leave to spend Christmas with their families in the first experi- ment with the system. However, now, tagging will be grounded at law and will also serve as a replacement to jail for some crimes. An electronic ankle band will allow the authorities to know where the person is on a 24/7 basis. The system automatically raises the alarm if the individual breaks any geographical limita- tions imposed on them. "We have had cases of people found guilty of a minor crime and sentenced to six months in prison and in the process losing their job or missing their stud- ies. In this way, these individu- als will still be able to function in society with the community having peace of mind that the authorities can track their every movement," the sources said. Anybody who breaches the conditions imposed by the elec- tronic monitoring order will serve the original jail term and any other additional penalty im- posed by the court. Electronic tagging has long been mooted in judicial and penal circles as a means to alle- viate the burden on the prison facility. The Corradino Correctional Facility had a population of 864 by the end of December 2020, including 56 female inmates, information tabled in parlia- ment showed. Almost a third of inmates were still awaiting trial or sentencing. The overall European impris- onment rate – the number of persons in prison per 100,000 inhabitants – fell again slightly in 2020, consolidating a trend that started in 2013, according to the Council of Europe's An- nual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations for 2020. But Malta had the highest growth rate in incarceration between 2019 and 2020 (15.2% increase), followed by Cyprus (13.1%), Iceland (11.7%) and Croatia (10.3%). Malta was also within the top five of countries with the highest proportions of foreign inmates: Luxembourg (73.9%), Switzer- land (69.6%), Greece (57.8%), Austria (53.1%), Malta (51.5%), followed by Catalonia in Spain (46%), Belgium (43%), Estonia (33.3%), Italy (32.5%), Denmark (30.1%) and Norway (29.2%). Malta has 25.2% of its pris- oners convicted for drug-relat- ed offences. The highest rates were in Latvia (44.2%), Iceland (34.6%), Italy (31.5%), Greece (29.4%), Azerbaijan (29%), Al- bania (27.9%), Cyprus (27.3 %), Georgia (26.2%), Estonia (25.8%), Turkey (25.8%) and Malta (25.2%). ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt