One of the three suspect hitmen accused of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia, has filed an urgent court application asking for the revocation of a decree which he claims could potentially breach his rights.

Vincent Muscat, known as il-Koħħu, is currently awaiting trial alongside brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio, over his alleged involvement in the car bomb plot that killed the journalist in October 2017.

This latest judicial act in the murder proceedings was prompted by a decree, delivered by the Criminal Court in April, following the suspension of court sittings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The legal notice issued in March, suspending court operations save for urgent cases, had inevitably affected the hearing of preliminary pleas to the trial of the three alleged murderers.

In the light of the current scenario, the Criminal Court, presided over by Madam Justice Edwina Grima, had delivered a decree ordering the parties to file written submissions, once oral pleadings could not go ahead due to the suspension of court sittings.

However, in his application filed by legal aid lawyer Marc Sant, Muscat pointed out that to date, the ‘new’ witness who had entered the scene in November, namely middleman Melvin Theuma, had not yet finished testifying in the compilation proceedings before the Magistrates’ Court.

That ‘new’ witness had been mentioned after the compilation proceedings of the three suspects had been concluded and the bill of indictment issued by the Attorney General.

Subsequently, the acts of the compilation had been sent back to the Court of Criminal Inquiry, presided over by Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit, for the middleman to testify. In fact, Theuma’s testimony had not yet been concluded.

To date, Theuma had not yet testified on a number of ‘tape recordings’ which were still to be produced in the murder compilation of the three suspects, the applicant argued, adding that such testimony could possibly prompt further preliminary pleas on his part.

Whilst “appreciating” the reasoning of the court, allowing written submissions when Theuma has still to face further questioning, could potentially prejudice his fundamental rights, argued Muscat.

Given this urgent application, Madam Justice Grima scheduled a court sitting to hear evidence limitedly upon this issue raised by Muscat.