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maltatoday SUNDAY 29 APRIL 2018 26 Nicholas Azzopardi was on his deathbed when he recounted his terrifying ordeal at the hands of his police interrogators, whom he said, had beaten him up. The family of Nicholas Azzopardi, the man who revealed on his deathbed that he was beaten up by his police interrogators, and who subsequently died in hospital on 22 April, recounted the harrowing version of events they believe had led to the mysterious death of Azzopardi. Flanked by MaltaToday editor Saviour Balzan, and law yer Toni Abela, Reno Azzopardi gave a blow-by-blow account of the events between the 9 April and 22 April, as well as publishing for the first time a video of his brother speak- ing on his deathbed about his ordeal. Azzopardi, 38, had been reported by the police to have escaped from police headquarters and suffered fatal injuries when he jumped over a wall on 9 April. Last Sunday, the story broke on Mal- taToday of how Azzopardi had been mysteriously found in a ditch beneath the CID offices, after police claimed he had escaped a police escort and jumped down. In the video, an ailing Azzopardi says he was brought in for questioning at the police headquarters in Floriana on Tuesday evening on 8 April, where he arrived with his daughter. There he was met by his estranged wife and her mother, who took his daughter. He was then led downstairs to a cell by two police officers, whom he said had no police numbers. It was there that Azzopardi said he was attacked by the police officers, after retaliating in self-defence by pushing one of his interrogators against the cell door. *** "I spoke to the doctor who said that the injuries were to his ribcage. He had nothing else. He didn't have any head injuries, his spine was intact and he had no broken legs; just a broken, totally crushed left hand; totally crushed, left side ribcage; a totally crushed left lung, plus half of the right lung," his brother Reno Azzopardi said. "The doctor explained to me that his lungs were just as if a bunch of grapes had been smashed to the f loor. He was in a critical stage and he could have died at any moment. He also had a lot of internal bleeding. At the ITU, Nicho- las was under the supervision of Profs. Grixti." On Thursday, 17 April, Nicholas started showing signs of recovery, and was slowly coming to his senses. "He was restless from the start, attempting to make contact with us, even trying to type a message on my mobile phone." On Saturday, 19 April, when he woke up, he started talking to his family, say- ing he had been beaten up ("faqghuni, faqghuni "). *** Questions unanswered Reno Azzopardi claims that an hour and a half after his death, he noticed new injuries on his brother's corpse, namely behind his left ear, on the left side of his head and underneath his hair, as well as large huge bruises on his buttocks, the left buttocks and left kidney area, his shattered left hand and the shattered left ribcage. "I started to ask myself how a man of 120kg could have sustained these inju- ries from a three-storey fall?" His father, Joe Azzopardi, said that when he had examined his son's body after he died, he found a large number of bruises particularly around the back of the head but also his right side and buttocks, that developed while Nicholas was in hospital. He said it did not make sense that Nicholas had bruises on the front and back of the body if he had fallen, as was claimed. *** "I really want to see that justice is done," Reno Azzopardi said. "For the truth to come out. I really hope that my family and I will be alive when the truth comes out, because hearing all that has happened so far, we are now really worried for our own safety, for my own safety, for my two kids, my wife and my parents." Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. 'I was taken downstairs and they beat me up' Opinion News – 30 April 2008 201820172016 201520142013 201220112010 2009 2008 No parole for those who murdered in cold blood Would you show mercy towards someone who tied up your parents in their own flat and let them suf- focate to death while robbing them in the process? I know I wouldn't and I would blame the people who let it hap- pen. The courts should insist that those who showed no mercy in carrying out the murder of Jose- phine and Gerald Grima, should share the same fate with lifetime in jail. So what, if other countries look on 25 years as a lifetime in prison? Other countries have abortion and the death penalty – we don't. Maybe those elderly victims still had only a few years left – it was up to the Supreme Being to decide when, not to two venomous snakes who had nothing better to do than killing them. How ready and will- ing were these monsters to make the elderly their prey? I was angry when I heard the plea from one of the cold-bloodied murderers of Josephine and Gerald Grima. Now he wants mercy shown to him in prison while his victims lie in their coffins. Little did they know back then that the feast of St Paul would be the last they would celebrate. If parole was to be granted to anybody who committed such a crime against humanity, where would it stop? There is a rise in opposition to parole all around the world. And it is quite easy not to do time: you must not do the crime. Valerie Borg Valletta St George's Bay hotel 'out of character' Old comrades' association to be disbanded We would like to express our horror at the size and style of the proposed St Julian's/ Pembroke development at the former ITS. As longstanding and ap- preciative visitors to your islands we deplore this latest proposal as being totally out of character. St George's Bay Area has already been ruined in the name of commercialism. We hope the Planning Authority will be able to exert some pressure to obtain a sensible solution for all par- ties concerned – investors, residents and peace-loving tourists. Kate Lewis Watford, Herts. UK They've been here before… but a substantial amount of time has since passed. Way back in 1972 the last military regiment to oc- cupy Upper Fort Saint Elmo as a service military establishment, the former 3/11 Regiment Royal Malta Artillery, held its last for- mal parade that symbolised the disbandment of the regiment. At that parade its old Bofors guns were handed over to the Malta Land Force. For all intents and purposes that was the end of this territorial regiment. However, some of that glori- ous regiment's warrant officers and sergeants decided that they would not throw up into the air, just like that, all the values and traditions that they had inherited from their service years. Consequently the 3/11 Regi- ment RMA (T) Association was formed and it has kept up the regimental spirit for these past 46 years. Now, it seems as if old age and falling support for the Association's activities have reached their major impact point, and an Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss and decide on the Association's disbandment is being held. All members of the 3/11 Regi- ment RMA (T) Association who have their subscription paid up to 2018 are invited to attend the EGM which is being held on Sat- urday 12th May 2018, at 10:30am at the Royal British Legion, 111 Melita Street, Valletta. George Gusman, Acting Secretary 3/11 Regiment RMA (T) Association Gunners of the RMA's 3 Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery and 11 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiments of the Royal Malta Artillery on parade in November 1959