253 jury trials pending in Malta, justice minister tells parliament
Almost 200 of these trials cannot be appointed yet as they await the outcome of other proceedings
There are currently 253 trials by jury pending in Malta’s courts, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard told parliament on Wednesday.
Attard was replying to a question by PN MP Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici.
Of these, 34 had already had juries appointed, with the remaining 22 cases awaiting juror selection.
This means that 67 people facing charges were awaiting trial, with some cases involving multiple accused.
Apart from the 56 pending trials, 98 other cases are awaiting the outcome of proceedings, such as constitutional challenges, before they can proceed to trial.
Another 99 bills of indictment face legal objections, Attard said. Once the court rules on these objections the case can move to trial.
In 2023, Attard had told parliament that there were 141 pending trials by jury, 108 of which could not yet be heard because of pending proceedings. The remaining 33 trials had either already been given an appointment date or had completed the pre-trial stage.
The figures shed new light on Malta’s ongoing struggle to slash court delays.
Delays in Malta’s civil and administrative courts are well documented, with EU Justice scoreboards frequently pointing to Malta’s delays as amongst the longest in Europe.
However, Malta’s criminal courts appear to be hampered by similar delays, Attard’s figures suggest, with Malta having fewer judges than almost anywhere else in the EU.
Malta’s court delays were also singled out in a recent EU rule of law report, which described Malta’s under-resourced and slow courts as an ongoing concern.
The government has sought to fend off criticism over its under-resourced courts, appointing two new magistrates in May and issuing a call for a further two magistrates and two judges over the summer, while pushing for judges’ retirement ages to rise from 65 to 70.
The matter has led to delays in several of Malta’s most high-profile criminal cases in recent years.
These include the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, with businessman Yorgen Fenech still awaiting trial for complicity in the crime, almost six years after his arrest.
Fenech is also awaiting trial for other charges, including money laundering and corruption alongside the former head of the police’s anti-money laundering unit Ray Aquilina.
Meanwhile, the 2019 murder of Lassana Cisse also remains stuck in legal limbo, with two soldiers, Francesco Fenech and Lorin Scicluna awaiting trial on charges of murder and attempted murder of Cisse’s friends.