Criminal proceedings are to be tried within a reasonable time. This fundamental human right is catered for in Article 39 of the Constitution of Malta which reads as follows: Whenever any person is charged with a criminal offence he shall, unless the charge is withdrawn, be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time by...
The Gender Based Violence and Domestic Violence Act, Chapter 581 of Laws of Malta, defines domestic violence to include: all acts or omissions including verbal, physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence causing physical and, or moral harm or suffering, including threats of such acts or omissions, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, that occur within ...
A new approach to drug abuse introduced on the Maltese Islands. This approach moves to help treat drug abusers rather than to just simply punish them. This is by virtue of the amendments to Chapter 581 of the laws of Malta, namely the Drug Dependence (Treatment not Imprisonment). It is clear that the salient aim...
In May 2015, the accused was charged with having abused his position as an employer in the public sector and had mis-used public funds. From the evidence, it transpired that all the works carried out fell within the remit of the Ministry of Gozo and that there was no indication of any wrong doing. The...
The defence counsel on behalf of Angelo Zahra had requested a Constitutional Reference before the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Inquiry, claiming that the applicant’s right to a fair trial within a reasonable time is being breached. 18 years after arresting Zahra back in 2001, the Prosecution has not yet brought forward...
The First Hall Civil Court (Constitutional Jurisdiction) ordered the Attorney General to pay Oliver Grima the sum of €3,000 in moral damages, after deciding that the proceedings before the Court of Magistrates Court of Appeal took an unreasonable amount of time to be concluded. The criminal proceedings against the applicant were instituted by the Police...
In a judgement delivered on the 25th September 2019, the Court of Criminal Appeal helped us understand further what is tantamount to harassment. The parte civile in these proceedings carried out their business activities in close proximity to the residence of the accused. The business activities referred to a warehouse used by an import/export company...
The law recognises two types of persons – natural and legal. The former are of course human beings to whom criminal law attributes criminal responsibility for actions that violate norms, the breach of which would result in criminal sanctions. Legal persons, on the other hand, are all those to whom the law attributes a separate...
The First Hall Civil Court (Constitutional Jurisdiction) ordered the Attorney General to pay Antonio Gatt the sum of €10,000 in moral damages, after deciding that the criminal proceedings against Antonio Gatt, which ended up in him being declared not guilty of all the charges brought against him, took an unreasonable amount of time to be...
