Former justice minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici has expressed concern that the government intended to introduce the practice whereby court proceedings would carry on and judgments given even in the absence of the accused.
Speaking during the debate in second reading of the Bill amending various criminal laws, the Nationalist MP said this was diametrically opposed to local legal practice as established over the centuries.
He called on Justice Minister Owen Bonnici to withdraw the clause in committee stage and not to heed the advice of technical experts who wanted to expedite matters in court at all costs.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici said these clauses undermined the fundamental right of a charged person to protect himself from the power of the State.
He also expressed opposition to the proposed clause where no subsequent notifications needed to be forwarded to the accused in criminal proceedings once the first notification had been delivered.
Replying, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said the court system needed radical reform.
Sentencing in absentia would be qualified and would not become law immediately but only after a new IT system was in place and fully functional.
He said that safeguards would be provided for genuine cases where notifications were not presented in time.
The Maltese courts were already accepting sentences delivered in absentia in foreign courts. It was an injustice for witnesses to be called in vain because the charged person failed to turn up in court. Changes to the proposed amendments could be made in committee stage.