Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/884700
8 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2017 News A constitutional court has ordered the Maltese authorities to cease exchanging information with their Kazakh counterparts with regard to murdered dissident Rakhat Aliyev, but not with regard to his widow, saying that it could see no reason to violate a judicial cooperation treaty to which both countries were signatories. Aliyev had fled to Malta after be- ing tried, in absentia, by a Kazakh court for the murder of two bank- ers while he had been serving as Kazakhstan's ambassador to the OSCE in Vienna. He was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, stripped of his diplomatic immunity and his marriage to the daughter of the Kazakh president was forcibly an- nulled. Al- i y e v lived in s e l f - i m - posed exile in Malta after 2010, before turning himself to the Austrian au- thorities, which were carrying out their own investigation into the double murder. Aliyev died in an Austrian prison in 2015. Although an Austri- an court had ruled his death as a suicide, his lawyer insists that he was murdered. In a constitutional judgment handed down yesterday, Mr Jus- tice Tonio Mallia put a halt to cooperation with the Kazakh au- thorities with regard to assistance and documents relating to Aliyev, but allowed the assistance to in- vestigations into Aliyev's widow to continue. Lawyer Joe Giglio had argued that after Aliyev had expressed his disagreement with proposed changes to the Kazakh constitu- tion, which would allow President Nazarbayev to become president for life, a series of spurious charg- es had been made against him and he had been stripped of his am- bassadorship in Austria and his diplomatic immunity. Aliyev had continued to oppose the regime through the media and by author- ing books revealing the dealings of his former father in law. The Kazakh regime had em- barked on a campaign of persecu- tion against him, said his lawyer, spending millions on tracking him down and getting him extradited to Kazakhstan and on sanctions against him and his wife Elnara Shorazova. "To date, these attempts have failed in every country they were made for numerous reasons, among them the fact that the alle- gations turned out to be false and/ or fabricated and not least due to the lack of guarantees given by the dictatorial leadership in Kazakhstan that fundamen- tal human rights would be respected," argued the Maltese lawyer. He de- scribed the proceedings as politically motivated, instigated by a personal vendetta and to serve as a warning against dis- sent against the Kazakh regime. Judge Mallia noted that Elnara Shorazova, who is also one of the plaintiffs, is the subject of ongoing criminal pro- ceedings in Kazakhstan. "She says these procedures are a polit- ically-motivated sham. This court does not have the competence to delve into this issue, but must see whether it should allow the Mal- tese state to continue to cooper- ate with an allegedly corrupt or unfair judicial system." The court said it was "not at all impressed" by the bizarre testi- mony of Kazakh lawyer Alpysbay Zhuspov, who had earnestly told the court that the former Soviet republic respected the rule of law and human rights, adjudging his deposition as "giving no hope of credibility." Despite this, however, the court said the accusations made against Shorazova did not appear to be completely baseless. "Neither do they have any valid juridical basis," said the court, "but [the court] does not see why it should prevent another country, signato- ry to an international convention for reciprocal assistance in crimi- nal justice matters, from continu- ing its investigations." The court said the request had been made legally and for a le- gitimate reason – as a deterrent to money laundering by criminal organisations. It upheld the AG's observations, which said that the two applicants had been salaried employees of the Kazakh government. Despite their limited income, they had bought expensive properties that surely exceeded their means. "This leads us to the argument that the assets found in Malta had been bought as a result of their il- licit activities and therefore they cannot successfully complain that the freezing order is depriving them of their possessions, because the applicants acquired that prop- erty from illicit sources." It was in this context that the court declared a breach of the right to a fair trial. The court or- dered that the documentation already in the possession of the Maltese authorities not be sent to Kazakhstan as it had been col- lected in breach of the applicant's Launch of aid schemes for fishers co-financed through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 2014-2020 The Maritime and Fisheries Operational Programme for Malta in respect of the current programming period provides funding opportunities to the fishing industry and related coastal communities to help them adapt to ever-changing sectoral conditions whilst fostering their economical resilience and ecological sustainability. The Fund will be of assistance in reaching the objectives of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy and support the implementation of the Integrated Maritime Policy, as delineated in pertinent Regulation (EU) No. 508/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The Funds and Programmes Division is hereby informing the general public that three aid schemes for fishers will be launched on 13 October 2017. Article 30 – Measure I.6 Diversification and new forms of income Article 41(1) – Measure I.20 Energy efficiency and mitigation of climate change On board investments, energy efficiency and audit schemes, studies Article 41(2) – Measure I.21 Energy efficiency and mitigation of climate change Engine replacement or modernisation Deadline for submission of Application Forms: 24 November 2017 Calls for the above-mentioned Measures have a total allocation of over €1.5mn in public eligible funding (European Union and Malta shares). The Managing Authority reserves the right to increase the said allocation. Information sessions for all three Measures will be held separately in due course for all interested parties. Application Forms can be downloaded from the following web link after 13 October 2017: http://eufunds.gov.mt/en/EU%20Funds%20Programmes/Agricultural%20Fisheries%20Fund/ Pages/News-and-Events.aspx. More information and/or registration for information sessions can be requested on 22001108 or via e-mail to fpd.meae@gov.mt. Fishers who had already given their details to the Managing Authority during past meetings, will be duly contacted. Maritime and Fisheries Operational Programme 2014-2020 Part-financed by the European Union European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Investing in sustainable fisheries and aquaculture The widow of Kazakh exile Rakhat Aliyev has lost a court bid to stop Malta from cooperating with Kazakhstan in a money laundering investigation MATTHEW AGIUS Dissident's loses bid Malta assisting Kazakhs Rakhat Aliyev. After falling out of favour with former father-in-law and Kazakh dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev (top right) he lived in exile. His second wife Elnara Shorazova (bottom) insists he was killed in prison POLICE have released a photo of one of the robbers involved in Thursday's Tigne hold-up, as a search for the two thieves is underway. MaltaToday is informed that the police have also issued a European Arrest Warrant. One of the robbers has been identified as Albanian Ramazan Hysa, 24. Any information on the man can be forwarded anonymous- ly to the police using contact numbers 119 or 21 224001, or through direct contact with the Sliema police station on 2294 3351. Two men on Thursday target- ed the jewellery store belonging to Diamonds International, get- ting away with jewellery worth tens of thousands after storm- ing into the shop armed with batons, a shotgun and an axe. The two were wearing masks and wigs and got away in a white car, before abandoning it in Gzira and continuing their escape on a quad bike. A security staff member was injured after one of the robbers hit him in the head with the butt of the shotgun, which was used to fire a shot in the air. Police issue European Arrest Warrant for robber in Tigné jewellery hold-up