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14 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 JANUARY 2024 A judge has dismissed a human rights case that had been intended to prevent the extradition of a man wanted by Italy to face drug trafficking and organised crime charges. 58-year-old John Spiteri of Qrendi is wanted by the Italian authorities in order to face charg- es of participation in a criminal organisation and marijuana trafficking. The extradition case against Spiteri almost foundered in 2022, when the Court of Magis- trates had initially dismissed a request for his extradition to Italy, on the grounds that impor- tant documentation had not been exhibited by the prosecution. But after the Attorney Gener- al filed an appeal, in August 2022, a judge had ordered Spiteri's extradition case to be sent back to the Courts of Magistrates to be retried. Spiteri's lawyers had requested that the Court of Magistrates demand a guarantee from the Italian authorities that if Spiteri were to be sent there for trial, he would not be subjected to torture, or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The request was denied, lead- ing Spiteri's lawyers to file an appeal, which was upheld by the Court of Criminal Appeal in September 2022. But Spiteri was not satisfied with the guaran- tees contained in the document that was sub- sequently sent by the Italian authorities, and so he had instructed his lawyers to file the Con- stitutional proceedings that were decided on Thursday. In that judgement, Mr Justice Toni Abela, presiding the First Hall in its Constitutional ju- risdiction, systematically dismantled Spiteri's claims. Judgments by the European Court of Human Rights had established that the right to a fair trial did not apply to extradition cases, which in general, were not classified as crim- inal proceedings within the member States of the Council of Europe. Extraditions do not concern the determination of a criminal charge against the applicant for the purposes of the right to a fair trial. "The fact that they are imposed in the context of criminal proceedings cannot alter their essentially pre- ventive nature. It follows that proceedings for rescission of such measures cannot be regarded as being in the criminal sphere either," said the judge, quoting the Strasbourg court. The judge quoted the same court as having also ruled, in another case, that it "reiterates at the outset that the right not to be extradited is not as such one of the rights and freedoms recognised in the Convention and its addition- al Protocols." "After all, Italy, a country in the European community, is a signatory both to the Europe- an Convention on Human Rights and the Euro- pean Charter of Fundamental Human Rights. There is nothing to stop the applicant from raising any breach of his fundamental rights before the Italian court once he is before it," the ruling reads. The court also rubbished Spiteri's claim that inmates incarcerated in Italian prisons were held in degrading and inhuman conditions, pointing out that in his submissions, the plain- tiff himself had made reference to a July 2023 judgement by the Court of Catania which had rejected the Maltese authorities request for a person's extradition, on the grounds that con- ditions in Maltese prisons were inadequate. "Therefore, this means that Italian prisons are better than Malta's." Lawyers Franco Debono, Charles Mercieca and Francesca Zarb assisted Spiteri. Lawyer Julian Farrugia represented the Office of the State Advocate. Judge dismisses human rights case filed by man wanted in Italy over drug and organised crime charges MATTHEW AGIUS magius@mediatoday.com.mt John Spiteri Generations say immigrants MALTESE teenagers are be- coming more inclusive towards immigrants, less sexist, less re- ligious, less trustful of others, more likely to speak English at home and less likely to vote in general elections when they come of age. It is this picture that emerges from the results of the Inter- national Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), con- ducted in 2022 among 3,900 14-year-old students whose re- sults were recently published. For example, 79% of teenag- ers agree that migrants bring many cultural, social and eco- nomic benefits. Of these, 35% said they strongly agreed with this statement. Moreover 84% of students, up from 67% in 2016, agree that immigrants who have lived in the country for several years should have the opportunity to vote in elections. 40% said they strongly agree with this. This greater acceptance of immigrants reflects demo- graphic change: 13% of teens participating in the study were not born in Malta – up from 8% in 2016. 19% had a non-Mal- tese mother from 15% in 2016 and 23% a non-Maltese father up from 16%. But while teens are becoming more inclusive towards immi- grants, the percentage who do not trust people in general has increased from 12% in 2016 to 18% in 2022. The participants in the study included 1,052 males and 1,016 females from 14 State schools, 725 males and 659 fe- males from 21 Church schools and 246 males and 202 fe- males from seven independent schools. A total of 22 countries participated in the study. Civic awareness proportional to number of books at home The Maltese national report concludes that students who have many books at home and whose parents have a high in- come, and a high education- al and occupational level are more likely to score higher in civic knowledge than their counterparts with few books at home and parents who have a low socio-economic status, an international study on civic ed- ucation. Fifteen countries scored sig- nificantly higher than Malta in civic knowledge, while six countries scored significantly lower. The survey shows that 8% of teens have less then 10 books in their homes. These also scored the lowest scores in civ- ic education. Overall Malta scored higher than Romania, Serbia, Cyprus, Brazil, Bulgaria and Colombia in civic knowledge attainment, but it scored lower than Tai- wan, Sweden, Sweden, Den- mark, Poland, Estonia, Croatia, Norway, Italy, Spain, Lithua- nia, Netherlands, France, Slo- venia and Slovak Republic. Higher civic consciousness in independent schools Student attainment in civ- ic knowledge in Malta differs significantly between school types. Male and female stu- dents attending private-inde- pendent schools and female students attending church schools scored significantly higher in civic knowledge, than other students. The study also found that stu- dents attending state schools are more satisfied with the Maltese political system than International civic awareness study finds teens to be less sexist, less religious, and less likely to vote than previous generations JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt