Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/997322
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 JUNE 2018 NEWS Balancing individual rights and police power Malta's law empowers the police and secret services to tap phones in criminal investigations. Does this violate the right to privacy? If so... where does one draw a line between human rights and the State's prerogative to investigate crime? RAPHAEL VASSALLO Phone-tapping has long been a source of controversy in Malta. In the 1980s, the gov- ernment had been accused of secretly monitoring Op- position activity for political purposes. More recently, the introduction of legal wiretap- ping for criminal investigation purposes likewise raised ques- tions concerning the right to privacy, among other issues. This week, a team of lawyers filed a Constitutional applica- tion to challenge the proce- dure on legal grounds: kick- starting a case that may cause ripples on the surface of Mal- ta's criminal jurisprudence. Lawyers Franco Debono, Amadeus Cachia and Alex Scerri Herrera filed the writ against the Malta Security Services and the Maltese gov- ernment, on behalf of Joseph Lebrun: one of three sus- pects currently on trial over a seaborne illegal drug smug- gling operation in 2005. Lebrun's defence team ar- gues that the telephone in- tercepts used by the police to arrest and prosecute their cli- ent had breached his funda- mental right to a fair hearing. The intercepts had been made at the request of the police – and not a judicial authority, as is usually the case in foreign jurisdictions – and had to be Lawyer Franco Debono says legal interception must only be carried out after judicial oversight YANNICK PACE THE government has refused to divulge any information about the motive behind changes to the Maintenance of Good Order at Places of Entertainment Regulations. The changes, which came into force through a legal notice published last week, will regularise entertainment events organ- ised for those under the age of seventeen. The amendments will alter the defini- tion of a place of entertainment to include "any unlicensed venue that is being used to host outdoor events for persons under the age of seventeen". The law has also been changed to include a provision that requires that "whenever an outdoor event is being organised for [persons under the age of 17] in unlicensed venues, such events shall be covered by a bank guarantee of €5,000". The amended law will also require any employees present at such events to have been vetted by the Commissioner of Police to ensure that they are of good conduct. A list of employees working at the event will have to be submitted to the police before- hand. Contacted about the amendments, a spokesperson for the Home Affairs min- istry would not be drawn into why the amendments had been passed, insisting that the government would be explaining the need for the regulations in the coming weeks. Industry sources who spoke to MaltaTo- day said they could not exclude that the changes to law were passed in order to fa- cilitate the organisation of events for for- eign language students, or in anticipation of the recently-announced Nickelodeon treasure hunt, which will be organised in Malta next April and which is intended to attract families over the Easter school holi- days. Government silent on €5,000 bank guarantee for outdoor places of entertainment