Extradition case must go on, magistrate rules

Extradition proceedings against a Maltese man and a Chinese woman wanted for human trafficking will continue after a magistrate yesterday turned down a request to stay the case.

The proceedings were initiated against Lin Yi, his compatriot Wei Wang and Maltese Carmelo Borg who are wanted by the Italian authorities in connection with the Maundy Thursday drowning of six Chinese and Mongolian illegal immigrants about 15 miles off Sicily when they were allegedly forced off a boat thought to have left from Malta.

During a previous sitting the extradition proceedings against Mr Lin were put off until another pending case against him is decided. Lawyers José Herrera, Edward Zammit Lewis and Franco Debono, for Ms Wei and Mr Borg, had also called on Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna to stay the extradition proceedings until an application filed before the First Hall of the Civil Court was decided.

(The lawyers had filed a writ in the First Hall contesting the validity of the law in terms of which a European arrest warrant had been issued.)

The magistrate yesterday turned down the request ruling that the pending court case ought not to serve as a reason to stay the proceedings. The court found that staying the case could be of serious prejudice to the administration of justice and the rights to trial within the time laid down by law.