Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1442202
4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 12 JANUARY 2022 NEWS NICOLE MEILAK FEMICIDE does not need to be a criminal offence in its own right because voluntary homicide al- ready carries the highest sentence possible, Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said. Women's rights activists called for femicide to be made a criminal offence after Paulina Dembska, a Polish student living in Malta, was raped and killed in a public garden during the first weekend of 2022. The perpetrator, Abner Aquilina, was arrested shortly afterwards but his interrogation had to be suspended by police after he was admitted to Mount Carmel Hos- pital for treatment. But Zammit Lewis insisted on Tuesday that voluntary homicide already carried a lifetime prison sentence - the highest penalty possible under Maltese law. "Legal amendments aren't im- plemented through knee-jerk re- action. The Istanbul Convention was signed and ratified, a lot of work has been done in this re- gard, but more work needs to be done, and not necessarily legal work, to tackle this issue," he said. He added that there are other legislative, administrative, or ed- ucational measures that can be taken to stop further cases like the murder of Paulina Dembska. A report on femicide in Malta released last week insisted that femicide should be made a crim- inal offence or an aggravating of- fence of homicide. The country report compiled by the University of Malta and the Women's Rights Founda- tion also recommends the use of GPS monitoring for predators out on bail and in cases where a suspended sentence has been awarded and restraining orders have been issued. The report says electronic tagging can reduce the risk of femicide. Minister dismisses call for femicide offence: 'Homicide means life sentence' Artificial Intelligence research projects to benefit from €125,000 fund Zammit Lewis says other legislative, administrative, or educational measures can help prevent further femicide cases as he dismisses calls for a specific offence to be introduced Flowers and candles were laid in memory of Paulina Dembska on the Sliema promenade LUKE VELLA ARTIFICIAL Intelligence pro- jects are now eligible for financ- ing from a €125,000 research fund unveiled on Tuesday by Economy Minister Silvio Schem- bri in collaboration with the Mal- ta Digital Innovation Authority. Each chosen project would ben- efit from a maximum €25,000 in aid, meaning that at least five projects would be eligible for the scheme. Schembri mentioned how in 2019, Malta launched the nation- al strategy for Artificial Intelli- gence and stressed on the need for AI to be embraced by all in- dustries and services, including the public and private sectors. He mentioned how financial assistance had been supplied to a project, which developed a speech and text recognition sys- tem for Maltese. "This project is a clear demonstration of how ar- tificial intelligence can help with the education of our children," Schembri stated. "We believe and appreciate that expenses are involved in re- search, both in terms of wages and equipment. There is never a guarantee that research would lead to results, so thanks to the fund, we are providing hope to and helping researchers pursue their projects," Schembri empha- sised. Schembri also stated he be- lieves research should not be something owned exclusively by educative institutions and should be more mainstream, even on a commercial and in- dustrial level. MDIA chairperson Joshua Ellul said AI is prevalent in the pres- ent day, as not a day goes by that one doesn't use the technology, when listening to music, ordering food and accessing information online. "AI is software based on pre- vious experience and data, it is heavily dependent on data and experience fed into it," Ellul stat- ed. He remarked that apart from students, today's innovators should also be supported in order to help pave the way for better use of the technology. Economy Minister Silvio Schembri