Court dismisses appeal contesting validity of European arrest warrant
The Court of Appeal yesterday confirmed a judgement in which the First Hall of the Civil Court had dismissed a writ contesting the validity of the law in terms of which a European arrest warrant had been issued. Carmelo Borg, 27, from Rabat, had filed...
The Court of Appeal yesterday confirmed a judgement in which the First Hall of the Civil Court had dismissed a writ contesting the validity of the law in terms of which a European arrest warrant had been issued.
Carmelo Borg, 27, from Rabat, had filed the writ in the civil court when he was facing extradition proceedings in the Magistrates' Court as a court of committal.
On October 4, the Magistrates' Court ruled it was satisfied there were enough reasons for Mr Borg and his Chinese co-accused, Wei Wang, to be extradited to Italy where they are wanted in connection with the Maundy Thursday drowning of six Chinese and Mongolian illegal immigrants some 15 miles off Sicily when they were allegedly forced off a boat that had reportedly left from Malta.
The following day, on October 5, the First Hall of the Civil Court dismissed his writ in which he contested the validity of the European arrest warrant, on the strength of which he was being extradited.
In the writ Mr Borg argued, among other things, that the Minister for Justice had exceeded his powers in terms of the Extradition Act when he enacted subsidiary legislation.
The court had ruled it did not result that the Justice Minister had exceeded his authority when promulgating such subsidiary law.
Mr Borg then appealed the Magistrates' Court's decision and the decision of the Civil Court.
On October 20, the Court of Criminal Appeal declared Mr Borg's appeal application null and void after ruling that the application did not contain the facts covering the grounds on which the appeal was based.
The Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed Mr Borg's appeal from the First Hall's decision and confirmed the judgement.
The Court of Appeal, however, declared that when deciding on the role of the Minister for Justice, the first court had acted outside its powers.
This ruling, may lead to Mr Borg initiating another case before the First Hall.
Lawyers José Herrera and Edward Zammit Lewis appeared for Mr Borg.