Update 1.18pm

Businessman Luke Chetcuti has spoken out against calls for better treatment of prisoners in solitary confinement, which include the man who murdered his father, Hugo.

He was responding to comments by journalist and prison rights campaigner Peppi Azzopardi, who said some prisoners were currently being silenced and denied the right to speak to police.

Bojan Cmelik is among four convicted murderers ordered to serve solitary confinement as part of his life sentence for the murder of Hugo Chetcuti in July 2018.

His son addressed Azzopardi directly in a statement on his Instagram stories. 

“Perhaps if it was your dad laying cold in his grave you would think differently? Misek tistħi Peppi! (You should be ashamed Peppi!),” Chetcuti said.

"I write this with absolute disgust"- Luke Chetcuti's reaction to Azzopardi's solitary confinement campaign: Screenshot of Chetcuti's instagram stories

On Sunday, Azzopardi said the current situation in prison was a ‘tragic farce’ and said inmates are being refused the chance to testify against the prison director. He was not referring to murderers in solitary confinement, but rather four prisoners serving sentences relating to drugs that wanted to testify. 

However he has previously criticised the "inhumane and degrading conditions" of people held in solitary confinement. 

Chetcuti said he was writing in "absolute disgust". 

"How can you protect these murderers?" he posted in an Instagram story on Sunday.

"When I visit my dad at his grave he can't speak to me, or anybody else, because he is in an indefinite solitary confinement state due to death through the murder at the hands of one of the prisoners you so nobly defend."

An impromptu memorial to Hugo Chetcuti outside one of his establishments after he was murdered. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

He said his murdered father has no rights anymore and his family is “scarred for life.” 

“Do you even have any consideration for the after-effects on my children’s lives knowing that their grandfather was murdered? Do you know how hard it is for all my family to continue life, life is never going to be the same and never will be for us now.”

He said his last memories of his father was of "watching a medic jumping on him desperately trying to bring him back to life."

The law allows a judge to order terms of solitary confinement in cases of serious crimes such as murder.

Yet, over the past years, social well-being experts have called on the authorities to abolish solitary confinement, which they claim, increases the likelihood of a prisoner committing even more violent crimes. 

In response, Azzopardi said that his comments had not been about murderers or inmates in solitary confinement. 

"Yesterday I was writing about four inmates who are serving sentences related to drug abuse, and who have been refused the chance to give statements to the police in an investigation on prison leadership," he argued.

"None of them are convicted murderers and they are not currently in solitary confinement. This was not part of a solitary confinement campaign and I certainly was not speaking about Hugo's murderer."

Azzopardi argued that Luke Chetcuti must have misinterpreted the post, but the Xarabank host defended his stance on treating murderers with dignity.

"I will never say anything to disrespect Hugo or any other murder victim, and Hugo's son and his family are well aware of the respect I have towards them. Weeks after Hugo passed away, they were with us on Xarabank, in a tribute to his life and success," he said.

"However, I insist that even convicted murderers should be treated with dignity and respect in prison, and nobody should take that away from them."

Azzopardi said he is informed that after Sunday's post, the police are taking statements from the four inmates .

"The police have been working diligently on this investigation, and I'm glad these inmates will be heard," he said.