A proposed overhaul of the criminal court system sets a one-year limit on pre-trial proceedings, doing away with an antiquated referrals procedure and setting new time frames for criminal cases.

The reform was first proposed in the last legislature and, after months of fine-tuning, it is set to be presented in parliament shortly, possibly before the summer recess.

Government sources said it seeks to drastically shorten lengthy pre-trial proceedings in criminal cases, which, for years, have been maligned as far too slow as those accused of criminal offences can spend years attending court sittings before even reaching a trial.

Lawmakers are proposing shortening what is known as the compilation of evidence stage in criminal proceedings. During this pretrial stage, the prosecution presents all its evidence before a magistrate.

Although this is not the final trial of the accused, defence counsel and even lawyers representing victims can ask questions of witnesses and can also file applications with specific requests that can further delay the process.

The reform seeks to introduce specific time limits as to how long the prosecution and defence can take to present evidence and witnesses. Although these time limits are still the subject of consultation with the judiciary and lawyers, Times of Malta understands the aim is a maximum of one year. 

This, government sources argue, is a significant change considering that, under the current system, a compilation of evidence can take several years.

The sources concede, however, that it is a step short of doing away with the compilation stage altogether, something that was explored in the early days of drafting the reform.

While there is no explicit time limit on the compilation process, in practice it tends to be 20 months for major crimes because, then, the accused can be automatically granted bail.

However, in cases where the accused is granted bail, this can drag on for far longer.

Another time-saving measure being proposed in the reform will seek to do away with cumbersome referrals in compilation procedures.

Known as rinviji, this is when evidence presented in court by the prosecution is referred to the office of the attorney general, which is given a one-month window to decide on the way forward. This can happen multiple times in the pretrial process.

Under current system, compilation of evidence can take several years

Criminal lawyers have argued that the procedure has, in recent years, become redundant as prosecutors from the AG’s office started assisting the police during criminal cases in courtrooms. 

The reform also proposes the introduction of a disclosure procedure at the start of a compilation. This would see the prosecution present the court with the entire body of evidence against an accused on the first day of a compilation, rather than drip-feeding it over the course of several months.

Guidelines for the type of evidence to be submitted in a bid to stop courts from being buried in evidence with little to no significance in the case are also being considered.

Malta's problem with slow justice

Magistrates have recently been complaining of prosecutors presenting mountains of evidence, particularly in cases related to money laundering and other complex financial crimes.

According to a 2020 Council of Europe report, compared to the EU average, criminal court cases in Malta take between double and five times as long to be concluded. Criminal cases take at least 298 days, double the EU median of 122 days. But second-instance criminal cases take 534 days compared to the 104-day average – five times the time.

The issue of court delays is a perennial problem for Malta’s judicial system.

Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti has described it as its “biggest challenge” and called on the government to appoint more judges as the effort being put in by the judiciary was not enough to solve the problem.

The country has half the number of judges and magistrates per 100,000 inhabitants in relation to the EU average – 9.5 compared to 17.7.

Malta beats the EU average by almost three times in the number of practising lawyers, with 322.7 to 123.

The reform to reduce delays in criminal cases was first proposed and drafted by Edward Zammit Lewis, who had started presenting it to stakeholders before the March general election.

However, as he was left out of cabinet, it will be his successor, Jonathan Attard, who will move the bill for debate in the House.

Contacted for comment, Attard said only it was at the top of his priority list.