Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/870005
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2017 8 MATTHEW AGIUS A court has ordered that former lawyer Patrick Spiteri, who is currently being detained pend- ing several proceedings on charges of fraud and misappro- priation, be provisionally held in isolation for health reasons. The disbarred lawyer had been brought to Malta from the UK in late May on the strength of at least seven European Ar- rest Warrants to face charges of fraud and misappropriation that total some €7.4 million. Spiteri has been remanded in custody, in Corradino Correc- tional Facility's Division 4, for over three months, despite his lawyer's repeated requests for bail on health grounds – he suf- fers from a painful and rare con- dition known as Behcet's syn- drome which causes blood vessel inflammation throughout the body, mouth sores, eye inflam- mation, skin rashes and genital sores – as well as to allow him to prepare his defence. Stress and contact with the ever-present cigarette smoke in prison was exacerbating Spiteri's condition, argued lawyer Stefano Filletti. This view was upheld by a court-appointed medical expert who told the court yesterday that, after having conducted a visit at prison in the morning, Spiteri could safely be held as the sole inmate in division 15. "I saw the place where Mr Spi- teri can be held, in Division 15. The size is 36ft and 33ft and has a yard of almost the same size. There is sunlight but it is not direct. I confirm that the smok- ing of other persons does not help the accused's condition. This place is big enough and he would be held alone there. I have seen the cell and there are win- dows and natural light. It is not hot. The important thing is that there is no smoke and no crowd- ing with other prisoners." Spiteri lashes out at his continued detention: 'Am I a terrorist? Am I already guilty?' Filletti asked Spiteri to testify in the presence of the doctor and explain what his experience in prison is like. "It's not just cigarettes in division. They're everywhere: in the lockup, in the van coming here. Every- where. There is no place where there are no cigarettes. To go to the medical room, all the nurses gather outside, smoking four times a day, then they go in- side and handle your medicines without gloves. The treatment I get at 9pm is handed to me by an official with a lit cigarette in his hand. After my wife paid me a visit, the official who searched me for contraband was also holding a lit cigarette," he said. His "special diet" regime was an unchanging menu of chicken in the evening and fish in the morning, he added. "My biggest problem there is diarrhoea, food. I can tell you that as soon as this is in the newspapers I will be mistreated again, to put me in my place." Spiteri protested that the situ- ation was having an adverse ef- fect on his health. "My system is going down. I have swollen glands, a tickle in my throat which is bad, had fever this morning. The stress is tremen- dous." "And if they don't smoke, they blaspheme... prisoners and offi- cials. So is that not stressful? So isolate me, brilliant. Is that the solution? I did not escape, I want to defend myself. It's grimy. It's dirty. Why isolate me? Am I a terrorist? Am I already guilty? I am trying to defend myself." News Lawyer Stefano Filletti: 'It is medieval to leave him in pain in prison and it is unacceptable to hold a person in isolation who is presumed innocent, like a punishment for being sick' Pending house arrest request, Patrick Spiteri finds himself in isolation