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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 22 JULY 2015 News Judge dismisses Attorney General's appeal in parental sex abuse case Toyota Malta For more information contact: Michael Debono Limited 0GLQD5RDGĽHEEXã 7HO VDOHV#WR\RWDFRPPW ZZZWR\RWDFRPPW Toyota Gozo Showroom 0ãDUU5RDG ;HZNLMD;:.*R]R 7HO JJV#WR\RWDFRPPW 5 year WARRANTY DEBONO F I N A N C E ONLY 5.5% VARIABLE RATE OVER 6 YEARS MATTHEW AGIUS A judge dismissed an appeal filed by the public prosecutor against the conviction of girl who had ad- mitted to perjury, saying it could not fathom the reasons for which the appeal had been filed in the first place. The decision marks another twist in the case of Leanne Camilleri, whose father Emanuel Camilleri had been sentenced to two years in prison for defiling his daughter, only to be released over a year later after his daughter pleaded guilty to perjury. The Constitutional court had released the man as an interim measure after the daughter, now in her twenties, recanted her original version of events during the com- pilation of evidence against her father, after further medical ex- aminations carried out on the girl revealed that she was still a virgin. As a result of her admission, Leanne Camilleri was sentenced to a three-year probation order and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, as well as being placed under a general inter- diction for ten years. The girl's mother, Lisa May Camilleri, is also undergoing per- jury proceedings as she stands ac- cused of instigating her daughter to falsely testify to being raped several times by her father. She was subsequently placed under a bill of indictment and remanded in custody. Emmanuel Camilleri, who had spent over 400 days in prison as a result of the false allegations, sub- sequently filed constitutional pro- ceedings against Police Inspector Louise Calleja, the Attorney Gen- eral and the Police Commissioner, claiming his right to fair trial had been breached. But the situation subsequently took a turn for the surreal, when the Attorney General then filed an appeal against Leanne Camilleri's sentence, arguing that the girl's admission was "manifestly unsafe and unsatisfactory." It argued that the admission of guilt did not satisfy the legal cri- teria, which state it must be clear, voluntary and unconditioned by external factors and that the sen- tence was, therefore, null. "The court should have contin- ued to hear evidence," submitted the AG, "as it had good reason to," going on to describe the situation as a textbook case of when an ad- mission should not be accepted. The girl was a "somewhat vul- nerable person... susceptible to all types of psychological pressure," argued the public prosecutor, pointing to the testimony of the victim's brother, who had told the court of pressure to recant her ver- sion by means of promises of being given a mobile phone and money from her mother and grandpar- ents. It also pointed the finger of blame at the media, whose atten- tion "might have put pressure on the accused and could easily have influenced her admission." However Leanne Camilleri's law- yer, Maxilene Pace, had contested the appeal, arguing that the AG was, by law, not permitted to file an appeal against a finding of guilt, except against the punishment. The accused herself had not ap- pealed, the lawyer pointed out, and described the AG's version of the facts as "surreal and intended only to complicate the girl's unfor- tunate circumstances." In his decision, Judge Antonio Mizzi started by pointing out that the appeal had been filed almost a year after the promulgation of the contested sentence. According to law, the police, who had been con- ducting the prosecution, are meant to give the court written notice of their intention to appeal. No such notice was traced in the acts of the case, said the court. But above all, the Court of Crimi- nal Appeal observed that the court of first instance "had shown great caution" in its acceptance of the admission and upheld the decision that the admission had been made of the girl's free will. "Frankly," ended the judge, pointedly, "this court cannot un- derstand the arguments made by the Attorney General. Any further comment is superfluous." Talks for UN resolution on Libya human smugglers 'hit wall' MIRIAM DALLI TALKS on a UN Security Coun- cil resolution allowing the use of force in the to stop gangs smug- gling migrants to Europe appear to have hit a wall, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said. "Talks were progressing well and the EU was very close at clinching a resolution … but for different reasons talks have now slowed down," Abela said, voic- ing his opinion on the matter. The European Union has agreed a mission to target gangs bringing people from Libya as part of a plan to deal with the in- flux of migrants to the bloc, but requires a UN mandate to be able to intervene in Libyan territorial waters. Accusing NATO of abusing UN resolutions during the 2011 intervention in Libya, Russia, which has the power of veto as a permanent member of the Secu- rity Council, has warned it was ready to use it. The EU naval operation against human smugglers and traffickers in the Mediterranean – EUNAV- FOR Med – is currently in its first phase focusing on surveil- lance and assessment of human smuggling and trafficking net- works in the southern central Mediterranean. The second and third stage pro- vide for the search and seizure of suspicious vessels, the disposal of vessels and apprehending traf- fickers and smugglers. But before moving beyond the first stage, the EU needs a UN mandate and, preferably, Libya's consent. The Council of Ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss its resettlement and relocation plans. While failing to meet a 40,000 target to relocate asylum seekers from Greece and Italy, member states – with the excep- tion of UK, Denmark and Aus- tria among others – agreed to a 32,256 figures. Member states also agreed to the resettlement of 22,504 mi- grants in need of protection from Syria and Eritrea, surpass- ing an original estimated figure of 20,000. The EU plans to meet the 40,000 pledge before end of year. On its part, Malta has agreed to take in a total of 74 asylum seek- ers, down from almost 300: 14 under the resettlement scheme and 60 under the relocation scheme. "Despite being a frontline mem- ber state and densely populated, Malta has accepted to take in the migrants as a show of solidarity with other countries," Abela told a press briefing. He explained that the figure was agreed to based on a set of criteria including the member states' gross domestic product, population, unemployment rate and arrival of migrants. Admitting that the EU had a long way to go to live up to its solidarity pledge, Abela insisted that Europe had come a long way as well: "Up until a few months ago no one would have thought so many countries would agree to a relocation programme. Tues- day's agreement was a small but very important step forward." It is now up to the EU's techni- cal staff, together with the UNH- CR, to determine how and which asylum seekers will be resettled and relocated in Europe.