Fresh appeal for compensation to former prison warden

The team of popular TV discussion programme Xarabank yesterday renewed its appeal to the government to award compensation to former prison warden Anthony Mifsud who, it insisted, was framed after a prisoner escaped in 1982.

"Mr Mifsud was found to be innocent by the Maltese courts, who acquitted him of charges of assisting in the prison escape of Louis Bartolo. Mr Mifsud had been arrested and beaten up by the police.

"This caused him trauma and a government-appointed psychiatrist certified that he suffered psychological damages," programme presenter Peppi Azzopardi said during a protest at City Gate.

"Mr Mifsud's case happened in 1982 when torture and beatings by the police were a regular occurrence. Everything indicates Mr Mifsud was the victim of a frame-up," Mr Azzopardi said.

Mr Azzopardi said Xarabank had exposed Mr Mifsud's case in December 1998 in the presence of Justice Minister Austin Gatt. It had presented the minister with a letter asking for compensation.

Mr Azzopardi said Dr Gatt had replied that the government was receptive to such a request and would actively consider it. But four years have since passed and Mr Mifsud was still without compensation.

"We are aware that a Constitutional court case is pending, but an out-of-court settlement can be reached," Mr Azzopardi said.

"Our interest is not the amount of money Mr Mifsud will receive, but that the state should acknowledge that an injustice took place in 1982 and Mr Mifsud was its victim.

"The country will not forget the abuses committed by police officers at the time, and the country has a moral obligation to see that justice is done with Mr Mifsud," Mr Azzopardi said.

To drive the point home, Mr Mifsud and the Xarabank team unfurled fabric on which over 4,000 postcards were stapled, each addressed to the prime minister, asking him to intervene in the matter.

As Mr Azzopardi was concluding his speech, MLP activist Valerie Borg, who is also a labour councillor, shouted out to Mr Azzopardi asking why he was not naming Minister Austin Gatt who, she said, had promised Mr Mifsud would be given compensation. She said Mr Mifsud had not been given compensation as he was not a Nationalist diehard like Pietru Pawl Busuttil.

Mr Azzopardi replied that had Ms Borg been there earlier, she would have heard him make his plea to the minister.

"But I remind you that the case happened when the Labour Party was in government."

Xarabank's plea was echoed by, among others, representatives of Alternattiva Demokratika and the pressure groups Glue and Move. The PN and MLP were invited for the event but no one turned up.

Contacted for his reactions, the Justice Minister said that although the case went back to 1982, the government only received a claim for compensation during Xarabank.

"During the programme I reacted positively to the claim. When the application was being processed, the Attorney General advised us that there was not enough grounds on which compensation could be given in terms of the Victims of Crime Scheme.

"In Mr Mifsud's case, he was only acquitted of helping in the break-out. In a court case that is still pending, it is being argued by the former prison's director, Ronald Theuma, that as Mr Mifsud was a member of a disciplined force, he could have been detained for over 48 hours. There is no court judgment that his arrest was an illegal one, hence there is no basis to say government has a liability," Dr Gatt said.

"The most politically convenient thing for me to do is to award compensation. But there are other considerations. Even Pietru Pawl Busuttil's case was a long-drawn one. It took 15 years to settle it and we did not judge it with partisan eyes.

"In 1987, Mr Busuttil was awarded Lm4,000, which he felt was not enough and he filed a court case. In the end we settled out of court and Mr Busuttil was given Lm40,000, which included his legal fees, but that was on the strength of a court sentence holding the government liable.

"When there is liability I would be among the first to say let us reach an out of court settlement but that should be far from the Lm850,000 which is being claimed by Mr Mifsud.

"Another delicate matter in this case is that there is a court case by Mr Mifsud against Mr Theuma, who denies he committed the frame-up. If I settle with Mr Mifsud, that would imply Mr Theuma framed him when there is no court sentence saying so," Dr Gatt said.