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6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 3 AUGUST 2022 NEWS NEWS Judge orders retrial in extradition proceedings against suspected Ndrangheta drug smuggler MATTHEW AGIUS THE Court of Criminal Appeal has ruled that the decision to re- ject the extradition case against suspected drug smuggler John Spiteri, who is wanted by the Italian judicial authorities is null, sending the case back to the court of magistrates for a retrial. The decision was handed down this morning by Mr. Jus- tice Giovanni Grixti in an ap- peal filed by the Attorney Gen- eral to last month's decision to reject the extradition request on the grounds that the documen- tation filed by the prosecution was incomplete. The Attorney General had filed the appeal after a court declined to uphold a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued against Spiteri, who is wanted for prosecution in Italy on or- ganised crime and drug smug- gling charges, on the grounds that the required documenta- tion that usually accompanies EAWs had not been filed in court. In a sitting in June, the Court of Magistrates had stopped the Attorney General from exhibit- ing the remaining 477 pages of documentation, in view of the fact that it had arrived at too late a stage in the proceedings and should have been exhibited by means of a note, or on oath, by the prosecution. In December 2021, Italian po- lice had issued a European Arrest Warrant for Spiteri, a Maltese citizen, after a four-year inves- tigation into a drug trafficking ring, which culminated in raids on several properties in Italy. Some 430kg of cannabis, can- nabis resin and cocaine were reportedly seized by the Italian Guardia di Finanza during the raids which largely targeted individuals from known mafia families. But the proceedings had been declared null in June, after Spi- teri's lawyers, Lawyers Franco Debono, Charles Mercieca and Francesca Zarb, had success- fully attacked the validity of the Schengen Information System (SIS) alert attached to the EAW. The AG had subsequently filed an appeal, arguing that the Court of Magistrates had failed to follow the procedure laid down in the Extradition (Desig- nated Foreign Countries) Order and had "decided to hear the proceedings in a manner con- trary to the spirit of the same law that regulates proceedings triggered by an EAW." In the appeal application, the Attorney General contended that the magistrate had gone beyond the applicable legal re- quirements and reached a con- clusion, which included the release of the extradant which, the AG argued, found no com- fort in the applicable law. Today's decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal praised the magistrate's "clear and erudite exposition of the relevant part of a truly complex law which regulates part of the extradition of individuals under the Euro- pean Arrest Warrant." After examining a number of judgments in which similar is- sues were decided, the judge observed that "it was most rele- vant and therefore applicable to the particular circumstances of these cases where an order for further information could re- sult in delays beyond the 60 day period within which extradition requests must be decided." The judge stressed that this should not be interpreted as his court undermining the value or importance of any piece of doc- umentation required for a valid SIS II alert, as this would serve to equip law enforcement with the information it required to proceed against the subject per- son. The court also agreed that it would be "more desirable" to have all the necessary informa- tion exhibited in court during the arraignment of the person to be extradited, but pointed out that once the person is ar- raigned, the rules of procedure laid out in the special legislation regulating such proceedings did not refer to the form which was missing in this case, and treat- ed the SIS II alert as a European Arrest Warrant. "From the point of view of pro- cedural law, therefore, it follows that the court of referral's deci- sion was procedurally lacking, in that it denied the Prosecution's request for extradition by basing its decision on the absence of a document which is not required for the filing of the intended procedure and therefore did not give the Prosecution the oppor- tunity to state its case. This brings with it the nullity of the judgement and conse- quently, the [request for a retri- al] should be upheld." Lawyers Franco Debono, Charles Mercieca and Frances- ca Zarb are representing Spiteri. MATTHEW AGIUS A 49-year-old unemployed man from Rabat has been fined and handed a 21-month suspended sentence after he admitted to having harassed and threatened his brother and niece. The man appeared in court on Tuesday, accused of coercing and threatening the victims by means of a messenger app and attacking them. Magistrate Doreen Clarke was told how the accused had been involved in a family court dis- pute, which had come to a head when he testified in favour of the victim's ex-husband. The inci- dents which the charges dealt with had started to crop up after the testimony, said defence law- yer Daniel Attard, who also in- formed the court that his client would be pleading guilty. The ac- cused confirmed his guilty plea when asked directly by the court. In his submissions on punish- ment, Inspector Eman Hayman said that the man had chosen the wrong method to confront the parte civile, "both physically and with constant one-way electron- ic communications." Any pun- ishment imposed by the court must serve to teach the accused a lesson, added the inspector. For the defence, Attard sub- mitted that his client lived in fear of his brother, who he claimed, would always carry a knife on his person. The court found the man guilty on his own admission, imposing a €100 fine and 21-month prison sentence, which was suspend- ed for three years. A restrain- ing order, prohibiting him from attempting to make any form of contact with the victims for three years, was also imposed. The court upheld a request to prohibit the publication of the names of the parties, in view of the fact that the man is a defence witness in an upcoming rape tri- al, involving the family. Italian police had issued a European Arrest Warrant for Spiteri, a Maltese citizen, after a four-year investigation into a drug trafficking ring Rabat man admits to threatening and harassing family members online VACANCY - Environmental Rangers Signal 8 Security Services Malta Ltd. are looking for 'Nature Lovers', smart highly disciplined, assertive, and reliable individual/s to work as Environmental Rangers for AMBJENT MALTA. 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