Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1424528
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 31 OCTOBER 2021 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS SEBASTIAN Dalli is demanding compensation from the State, arguing that a still-in-force freezing order imposed on him over a drug trafficking case dat- ing back to 2009 is breaching his fundamental rights. Dalli, brother of former min- ister and disgraced EU commis- sioner John Dalli, filed the Con- stitutional proceedings late last May. He had been arraigned in court in February 2009, accused of conspiracy to import cannabis. Dalli had been arrested dur- ing a police operation at Miġra l-Ferħa whilst taking delivery of what was thought to be a consignment of cannabis – but which turned out to be soap. During his arraignment, the Court of Magistrates ordered a freeze over his assets. As the law stood at the time, the accused could never oppose the request for a freezing order and neither did the court have the power to deny the prosecutor's request. It was only after five years from Dalli's arraignment, in 2014, that the law changed to allow the re- quest for a freezing order to be challenged or turned down by the court in such cases. Dalli is claiming a breach of his right of peaceful possession of property and that the "unchal- lengeable" freezing order was inflicting harsh punishment on a person who was still presumed innocent. Dalli's lawyer, Arthur Azzopar- di, argued that the new law of 2014 still did not offer the pos- sibility for persons in Dalli's po- sition to make a request for the revocation of freezing orders to the Criminal Court. Despite this, and in order to exhaust all local remedies before taking the case to the European Courts, Dalli had tabled a re- quest in this vein in December 2020. The Attorney General had opposed the request. In January 2021, the Criminal Court refused to rescind the freezing order, saying it should remain in force until final judg- ment is handed down. However, the Criminal Court also invited Dalli to file a Con- stitutional case about the exces- sive duration of the proceedings against him. This he did and the Constitutional reference is cur- rently still pending. Dalli's lawyer complained that the freezing order was a draco- nian measure that had "com- pletely paralyzed" all of Dalli's personal dealings, in particular his relationship with his bank. Azzopardi argued that the meas- ure was disproportionate, in that it wasn't limited to the al- leged amounts Dalli would have gained through the crime, but covered all of his past and pres- ent assets. He said the freezing order as applied in this case was breach- ing his right to protection form the deprivation of property without compensation, as en- shrined in both the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. Dalli's lawyer argued that any interference with the right to en- joyment of private property had to create a balanced between the public interest and the funda- mental human rights of the in- dividual. It was the domestic courts' du- ty to satisfy themselves that the freezing of the applicant's assets would not cause him more dam- age than that which inevitably flows from such measures, said the lawyer. Bastjan Dalli claims rights' breach over 12-year asset freeze Sebastian Dalli: in 2009 he was accused of conspiracy to import cannabis when the raid itself revealed that he was taking delivery of a consignment of soap