Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1497522
2 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 APRIL 2023 2 Criminal justice reform proposes limiting compilation of evidence period to one year Opposition walks out of parliament in protest after Speaker rejects urgent Air Malta debate JUSTICE Minister Jonathan At- tard is proposing a cap on the length of compilation of evidence proceedings as part of sweeping reforms for the criminal justice system. Compilation of evidence hear- ings during which evidence is ex- hibited in court would be capped at one year, doing away the proce- dure where case files are referred to the Attorney General who de- cides whether more evidence has to be exhibited. The proposal forms part of a package of reforms announced on Tuesday, which will be open for public consultation. The abolition of the renvoi pro- cedure was first mooted 12 years ago by lawyer Franco Debono, at the time an MP. Other proposals include in- creasing the upper limit on cases which may be tried summarily before the Court of Magistrates, forcing the prosecution to exhibit its evidence within a 70- day pe- riod, and allowing more types of witnesses to submit affidavits in- stead of testifying in the compila- tion of evidence. Documents not exhibited dur- ing the compilation of evidence will be allowed to be exhibited be- fore the Criminal Court. Defendants are to be entitled to 20 days from the date when the prosecution finishes exhibiting its evidence to file a note, declaring the intention to exhibit its own evidence. Defendants are to have a 40-day period, extendable by an- other 30 days, to exhibit evidence. Guilty pleas are to result in an au- tomatic reduction in punishment by two grades, except in respect of crimes punishable by life impris- onment. If at the end of the com- pilation proceedings the presiding magistrate does not find prima facie grounds for indictment, the defendant is released. Attard said the proposed re- forms would ensure society is better protected from criminali- ty while the rights of persons ac- cused, as well as their victims are safeguarded. He pointed to the government's increased investment in the jus- tice sector, saying the proposed changes were building on pros- ecutorial reforms that began in 2019. He highlighted the recently introduced procedure allowing revision of decisions taken by the AG, stressing the importance of checks and balances. Under the proposals, there will no longer be a need for the court to send the acts of proceedings back to the AG to decide on whether more evidence is to be collected or not. "Fundamental rights issues, Constitutional cases will not be allowed to stop criminal cases from proceeding," he said, ex- plaining that the idea behind this is to avoid the process from get- ting bogged down. The reforms were aimed at free- ing up human and infrastructural resources in the justice sector to respond to other needs, Attard said. Asked whether the time limit will favour the accused in compli- cated crimes of a financial nature, Attard insisted that proceedings that drag on for years, favour no one. "This reform needs everyone to upgrade their working practic- es… Will it create pressure? Yes. But these are the decisions which must be taken to ensure justice is delivered in reasonable time," he said. Retired judge Antonio Mizzi, who assisted in the drawing up of the new procedure said that the time had come for Malta to seek different solutions to what it has at the moment. Mizzi said the consultation pro- cess was a wide one. His office had suggested changes to the first draft. The final draft is not just his office's work but also the work of experts consulted by the minister, the judiciary and lawyers. "This reform is aimed at the people," said the judge, "not to satisfy the vainglory of the legal profession and judicature." He expressed great respect for today's magistrates, recalling how in his days as a magistrate, the lower courts had a much more limited remit. Today they are re- sponsible for handling cases of up to 12 years' imprisonment. "Sending a person to prison is not easy at all. To the contrary it is very difficult… we are dealing with a person's liberty, and we must be sure that the decision is correct." It is presumed that when a per- son is being arraigned, all the evidence is already in hand, but sometimes this is not possible and hence the 40-day period can be extended by another 30 days. At the end of this period, the defend- ant has a 20-day period to decide whether to exhibit evidence. If the defendant opts to do so, there will be a 40-day period ex- tendable by 30 days for defence evidence to be exhibited. Civilian witnesses will still be required to testify but expert and police witnesses are not, while re- serving the right to cross-examine them. With regards to implementa- tion, at a point in time, there will be a monitoring and evaluation period where the two systems will be working in parallel, said the re- tired judge, recommending that a dedicated team of magistrates use the new system until it is fully up and running. "A good law doesn't require interpretation," Mizzi said, adding that this is the reason for the evaluation period. KURT SANSONE OPPOSITION MPs walked out of par- liament on Tuesday after Speaker Anġlu Farrugia ruled against an urgent debate on Air Malta's future. The request for a debate without a vote was made by Opposition leader Bernard Grech in the wake of comments made by Air Malta executive chair David Cur- mi that the airline will be replaced by year's end. In the absence of government's agree- ment for an urgent debate, the Speaker briefly suspended the sitting to deliber- ate on the request. He returned with a ruling that ac- knowledged the importance of the de- bate but not its urgency in light of Fi- nance Minister Clyde Caruana's earlier statement that talks with the European Commission were still ongoing and he would give parliament all the details when these concluded. Farrugia's ruling was the second in as many days that rejected the Oppo- sition's request for urgent debates. On Monday, the Speaker ruled against an urgent debate requested by Bernard Grech on the need of a public inquiry into the tragic death of Jean Paul Sofia. As soon as Farrugia read out his ruling on Tuesday, Grech said the Opposition could not continue participating in par- liament and the Nationalist MPs stood up and walked out. Parliament then proceeded to con- tinue the Second Reading debate on amendments to the domestic violence law with only government speakers tak- ing the floor. In a reaction to the Opposition's walk- out, the Labour Party accused the Op- position leader of turning issues of national importance into a "partisan political game". "When he speaks about domestic vio- lence and how to fight it, from now on, Bernard Grech has to recall that he boy- cotted parliament when it was debating a law on the subject," the PL said. Last month, the Opposition walked out of parliament and boycotted a vote condemning the Steward hospitals deal during a debate on a motion it had put forward in the wake of a court ruling that annulled the contract. The Op- position protested when the Speaker allowed government to amend the mo- tion outside its allotted time. Air Malta On Tuesday morning, Air Malta's chief was quoted by Times of Malta say- ing that the national airline will be re- placed by December, with the company set to lay off its 300 employees. Curmi suggested that talks with the European Commission to secure an injection of funds by government had failed and the only option left was the airline's closure and its replacement with a new State-owned company. However, in comments to TVM in the afternoon, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana insisted that talks with Brus- sels had not yet been wrapped up. He refrained from confirming Air Malta's closure, adding that he would explain everything to parliament once talks with the European Commission were over. Opposition lkeader Bernard Grech