Erin Tanti claims his right to become a father is being breached

Erin Tanti is claiming the police breached his right to become a father and to have a private family life after he and his partner were arrested last month in the wake of revelations that she underwent an artificial insemination procedure to have his child while he is imprisoned for murder.

Tanti, who is serving a 20-year sentence for the murder of teenager Lisa Maria Zahra in 2014, filed a judicial protest on Friday, arguing he and his partner were first allowed to perform the procedure to have a baby and assured their rights to parenthood were being upheld, only to then be arrested over a suspected breach of the embryo protection law.

Moreover, he argued, the police breached their rights when they interrogated him and his eight-month pregnant partner late at night at police headquarters.

The authorities acted against the best interest of the baby and the mother, he said.

The judicial protest was filed against the Police Commissioner and the director of prisons and the CEO of the Correctional Services Agency.

Got partner pregnant from inside prison

Times of Malta reported in May that Tanti had managed to get his sperm out of prison and impregnate his partner through artificial insemination. The two have been in a relationship since before he was sentenced for the murder.

Tanti was never left unattended during prison leave.

At the time, sources close to prison said the procedure was illicit and unauthorised by prison authorities, but in his judicial protest, Tanti argued the “concerned entities did not object to the artificial insemination procedure”.

Tanti and his partner were arrested and taken to the police headquarters later that month, where they were interrogated by officers from the Major Crimes Unit late at night. The fact that he was arrested simply for attempting to carry out his right to become a father and have a private family life was a breach of his rights, the judicial protest said, especially if the interrogation were to lead to criminal charges.

His murder conviction does take away his liberty but it should not stop his right to become a father, the judicial protest said.

It argued that despite his partner being in such a “delicate” condition during the interrogation, the officers still chose to “breach a regulation on interrogations” and this is because their interrogation was not indispensable. He also said both of them were released from arrest.

His murder conviction does take away his liberty but it should not stop his right to become a father- Judicial protest

The Third Schedule of the Police Act, the Code of Practice for Interrogation of Arrested Persons, states that in any period of 24 hours, the individual under arrest shall be allowed a continuous rest period of at least eight hours, uninterrupted by any questioning, travel or interruption caused by the investigation.

The rule also states that this period should be at night and shall not be interrupted or postponed unless there are valid reasons for such a postponement.

Tanti formally brought the matter before the respondents through the judicial protest and placed them in bad faith warning them to stop. He also warned that he will hold them responsible for damages suffered by him and his family.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Matthew Xuereb signed the judicial protest.

Tanti had admitted to wilful homicide as well as having assisted his teenage student in the suicide, after the two were discovered at the bottom of Dingli Cliffs in March 2014.

The man, who was 23 years old at the time, was also accused of having defiled the underage girl when he was her teacher.