Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/885114
maltatoday, TUESDAY, 10 OCTOBER 2017 19 MATTHEW AGIUS A man who was imprisoned in 2011 after being wrongfully convicted of defiling his daugh- ter – who later testified to hav- ing been coerced into falsely ac- cusing him by her mother – will be taking his case to Strasbourg after the Constitutional Court declared that his human rights had not been breached. In a judgement handed down in September last year by the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction, Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef had upheld Emanuel Camilleri's complaint that he had suffered a miscarriage of justice, ruling that although the justice system had functioned correctly, the daughter's false testimony had misled the application of justice. Camilleri was, however, sub- sequently struck off the sex of- fenders register. Both Camilleri and the Commissioner of Police had filed appeals against this sentence. In a judgment handed down yesterday, the Constitutional Court, presided by Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, Mr Justice To- nio Mallia and Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri threw out both ap- peals. Camilleri's primary com- plaint had been the fact that he had been found guilty and that this, in view of his daughter's subsequent admission of having falsely accused him, was in it- self a breach of his right to a fair hearing which was compounded by shortcomings in the criminal justice process that failed to un- cover the truth. But the Constitutional Court disagreed with this argument, saying: "It cannot be said, as the plaintiff appears to suggest, that the court gave no importance to the fact that the girl wanted to change her version – on the contrary, it thoroughly investi- gated it to reach a conclusion as to what to believe." "In the light of everything that happened during the criminal proceedings it cannot be said that the decision reached by previous courts was one that they could not have reasonably reached... Certainly it cannot be said, as the plaintiff is claiming, that his conviction had been 'a conviction on weak evidence'." The courts had not ignored any relevant testimony and had given every witness the weight they deserved, the plaintiff had not been deprived of any op- portunity to present his case and had been allowed to cross- examine prosecution witnesses, pointed out the judges. The fact that there was a deci- sion that says that the girl had perjured herself does not by it- self mean that Camilleri was not given a fair hearing. "Not every 'wrong' decision is a breach of fair hearing rights," ruled the judges. The court noted the particular irony of this case, in which the plaintiff had argued that as his daughter had perjured herself, this could not constitute a final, unchangeable judgment. If this were to be the case, observed the court, there would never be a final judgment as in every law- suit a witness can subsequently be found to have given false tes- timony. It also noted that the girl had been convicted of perjury on her own admission and without any other witnesses being heard and despite it having emerged in the case against her father that she had been under pressure to re- cant her testimony. "The Attorney General ap- pealed and an anomalous situ- ation was created whereby the Attorney General was appeal- ing against the finding of guilt, and the defence arguing with all strength in favour of guilt." Camilleri had claimed that Inspector Louise Calleja had breached his rights by failing to believe that he was innocent, de- spite a medical expert confirm- ing that the girl was still a virgin. "It is close to absurd to say that a prosecutor breaches the ac- cused's rights to a fair hearing when he continues to prosecute because he doesn't believe the accused's claims of innocence." "What the plaintiff isn't saying is that the medical expert also said that in sexual abuse cases, up to 40-50% of cases, there will not be any findings." Inspector Calleja would have been failing in her duties if she had not prosecuted, more so in view of the apparent vulnerabil- ity of the alleged victim, said the court. Despite all this, the court ob- served that it could grant a rem- edy, not only when there was a breach of a fundamental human right, but also if it thought there was a risk of one being breached. "In the case before us today, the first court found serious doubts as to the guilt of the ac- cused and therefore the freedom from error of the sentences that had found him guilty and pun- ished him. Had the court not re- voked those sentences and their punishments, there would have likely been a breach of rights. "Perhaps it would have been more correct had the first court, instead of simply revoking the sentences finding guilt, or- dered that the proceedings start afresh, because it is a court of criminal jurisdiction and not a constitutional jurisdiction that decides on guilt or innocence. "It appears that the first court gave too much weight to the plaintiff's insistence that, after the sentence against his daugh- ter… 'his innocence had been definitely established.' What happened is that there are two sentences, both final and un- changeable, one against the plaintiff and the other against his daughter, which are incom- patible" The only way for Camilleri's innocence to be definitively es- tablished is through a criminal trial held with correct procedur- al safeguards that would evalu- ate the evidence in the light of the fact that his daughter had given false testimony against him, said the court. But the court said it also un- derstood that ordering a retrial 15 years after the fact would not be in the interest of the parties or justice. "For this reason it was wise of the first court to, despite the finding of no breach of fundamental rights, revoke the sentences and stopping there." For this reason, said the court, it was rejecting both the appeal made by Camilleri and that by the Attorney General. Camilleri said he intends to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Constitutional Court rejects case of man wrongfully convicted of daughter's rape MASSIMO COSTA THE Nationalist Party yesterday announced the opposition's full support for Malta's bid to host the European Medicines Agen- cy. It said the impact on Malta, should the application be suc- cessful, would be positive. This was expressed in a letter sent yesterday morning by Op- position Leader Adrian Delia to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. PN MEP David Casa also said Nationalist MEPs were ready to help the government on this matter. Malta is one of 20 EU Mem- ber States which have launched bids to be the host country of the EMA, which will be relo- cating post-Brexit from its cur- rent home in Canary Wharf, London. It employs 900 staff members from all over Europe. The government's bid in- cludes tax reprieves, plans to build a bespoke 30,000 square metre building at Smart City, free rent for 15 years and a grant for furniture and data services. The EMA monitors, evaluates and determines the safety of medical and veterinary prod- ucts before they are sold in the European Single Market. PN MEPs to assist in Malta's bid to host European Medicines Agency