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4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 30 NOVEMBER 2022 4 NEWS NICOLE MEILEAK ONE of the whistleblowers who reported his colleagues for police brutality said that the al- legations kept him up at night. The compilation of evidence against Rica Mifsud Grech, 22, from Floriana, and Jur- gen Falzon, 24, from Santa Venera, and Luca Brincat, 20, from Qormi, continued before Magistrate Joseph Mifsud this morning. One of the witnesses was Na- than Zerafa, one of the whis- tleblowers who had reported the three officials for abuse of power. He was on duty at the Victor Tedesco stadium in Ħamrun when several police officers had opened up to him about the abuse that was happening by the three accused while they were on night duty. He was told that they would beat people up and leave them in a secluded area in Qormi. He presented a copy of the email he had sent to his supe- riors reporting these instances. Other police officers testified on Tuesday. Malcolm Fenech, Larkin Lia and Kurt Zammit recalled an arrest in Marsa near Tiger Bar. A man had gone in- side the bar asking for small change, but the owner of the bar said he will not give him the money without him buying something first. The man grew angry and broke one of the shop's win- dows on his way out. This prompted the bar owner to call the police. In a previous sitting, the man said that the accused threat- ened beat him up the night of the argument. Allegedly, the told him 'if we see you in Mar- sa, we will beat you up'. Fenech said that the man had admitted to breaking the shop window and was not aggressive when he was brought to the po- lice station. Inspectors Joseph Mercieca and Omar Zammit are prose- cuting, together with lawyers Anthony Vella and Kaylie Bon- nett from the Office of the At- torney General. Lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili are assisting Mifsud Grech. Lawyer Edmond Cuschieri is counsel to Falzon. Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb are Brincat's Police brutality: Whistleblower says he couldn't sleep after hearing of the assaults Several police officers opened up to the whistleblower about the accused officials who would beat up foreigners while on night duty The compilation of evidence against Rica Mifsud Grech, 22, from Floriana (centre( and Jurgen Falzon, 24, from Santa Venera, and Luca Brincat, 20, from Qormi, continued before Magistrate Joseph Mifsud JAM ES DEBONO THE Environmental Health Directorate has officially ob- jected to the rezoning of land next to the Zabbar cemetery from one earmarked for ceme- tery expansion, to a residential purpose. The directorate shot down the application, citing the po- lice code which sets a mini- mum distance of 183 metres between cemeteries and the nearest residential households. The law cited by the direc- torate actually does not even foresee the possibility of a new residential development be- ing proposed next to a ceme- tery and is meant to preclude cemetery development next to houses. In fact the law states: "no cemetery shall be con- structed at a distance less than one hundred and eighty-three metres from any house intend- ed for habitation." A num- ber of residences in the area are already found within the 183m-radius from the ceme- tery. Moreover, the directorate pointed out that this is the on- ly area left for any future cem- etery expansion if this is ever needed in the future. It also referred to the incon- venience which may be caused to households touching onto the cemetery wall. In a strongly-worded objec- tion to the Planning Authori- ty, the Zabbar council has al- ready shown its consternation at the zoning request. "The cemetery is a sacred space and should not be abutting devel- opments." The area is the sole part of the village to be designated for expansion of the cemetery in Zabbar. The council said the authorities had to respect the historical value of the site with a buffer zone between the resi- dential area and the graves. The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has also ex- pressed concern on the pro- posed development, which would result in an extensive blank party-wall bearing onto the historic cemetery. But in- stead of objecting to the zon- ing application, the SCH pro- posed a 3m buffer zone with a lower, rear elevation to miti- gate the visual impact. The Environmental Resourc- es Authority, whose remit is strictly limited to assessing the environmental impact of ap- plications, is not objecting to the application but noted the proposal's impact on existing No apartment block next to Zabbar ceme- tery grounds, says health directorate

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