Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1531651
4 NEWS 4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 22 JANUARY 2025 MATTHEW FARRUGIA mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt MATTHEW FARRUGIA mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt JUSTICE minister Jonathan Attard has hinted that govern- ment's plan to reform magisteri- al inquiries will require citizens to request a police investigation before resorting to the courts. Attard was answering ques- tions about the planned re- form during Monday's Xtra on TVM. Attard defended the planned amendments and re- futed the notion that they are a result of unsavoury revelations surrounding the present and past Labour governments. Meanwhile, PN secretary gen- eral Michael Piccinino retorted by stating that the amendments aren't truly aimed at tackling abuse, noting that if an individ- ual frivously requests a magis- terial inquiry, this is already a crime. Piccinino stressed that gov- ernment's intentions are not truly to address gaps in the current system. He stated that if it weren't for magisterial in- quiries into certain cases, the public would be oblivious to certain injustices due to police inaction. When asked about the po- lice's lack of initiative to in- vestigate certain cases such as the one involving 17 Black, At- tard stressed that government has strengthened investigative bodies such as the Attorney General and police. Here, the justice minister was asked to highlight some key points of the upcoming reform. Attard explained that citizens would still have the right to request magisterial inquiries, but the reform would move to restrict "forum shopping" and would ensure that citizens "wouldn't bypass" the police. When asked to react, Pic- cinino stated that the point of magisterial inquiries, like all investigations, is to collect and preserve evidence. He said that should citizens be forced to go to the police and find themselves facing inaction, time would be lost, and justice would be delayed, if not denied. The justice minister under- lined that the planned reform is needed to prevent abuse from people like Jason Azzopardi, as he referenced Azzopardi's false statement about cabinet sec- retary Ryan Spagnol. He was however corrected by Piccin- ino, who stated that what the minister was speaking about was not subject to a magisterial inquiry, and could not be used as an example. Justice minister hints citizens will need to request police investigation before magisterial inquiry Domestic violence unit handles 70% of reports processed by police units The justice minister underlined that the planned reform is needed to prevent abuse from people like Jason Azzopardi On TVM's Xtra, justice minister Jonathan Attard defends the planned amendments and refutes the notion that they are a result of unsavoury revelations surrounding the present and past Labour governments SEVEN out of 10 police reports pro- cessed police units last year were about domestic violence, data tabled in parliament shows. Responding to a parliamentary question made by PN MP Graziella Galea, home affairs minister Byron Camilleri broke down the number of police reports processed accord- ing to the unit that processed them. According to the figures, 3,587 out of 5,102 reports were processed by the Gender-Based Domestic Vi- olence Unit. Meanwhile, the police's Environ- mental Protection Unit saw the second-highest number of reports with 576 reports processed. This was followed by the Traffic Unit, handling 283 reports. The Vice Squad and Drug Squad processed 101 and 99 reports re- spectively. Last year, the Immigration Field Unit and Anti-Money Laundering Unit handled 93 and 78 cases re- spectively. According to a different parlia- mentary question between January and November 2024, there were a total of 92,075 reports if one in- cludes those processed by police stations. This means that police stations processed 86,973 reports. However, when asked to break down the reports by locality, Camilleri said that the figures are rounded up according to district. He did not provide a district break- down. 3,587 out of 5,102 reports were processed by the Gender-Based Domestic Violence Unit