Magisterial probe on laptop use by convicted murderer necessary, activists urge

Repubblika said on Friday it was "bewildered" by the apparent reluctance of the authorities to request a magisterial inquiry into reports that a convicted murderer was found in possession of a laptop with internet access inside prison.

The prison authorities recently found a laptop with broken security seals inside the cell of high-profile inmate Adrian Agius, known as Ta’ Maksar. The laptop was seized from his cell last week, and suspicions have since been raised that he was using the device to connect to the internet from his cell.

Agius, one of the Ta’ Maksar brothers, is in prison for life.

He was jailed last year over the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop. His brother and another associate were also convicted of complicity in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in the same trial.

Times of Malta on Thursday asked Robert Abela why this case has not led to a magisterial inquiry. The prime minister instead pointed to the internal administrative inquiry currently underway in the prison.

Teh rule of law NGO on Friday insisted that an administrative inquiry may establish whether prison regulations were breached and who was responsible for any supervisory failures. 

"However, an administrative inquiry is not a criminal investigation. Evidence gathered through such a process cannot, on its own, form the basis of a criminal prosecution.

"If there is reason to suspect that criminal offences may have been committed, the law provides a specific mechanism for collecting and preserving evidence for use before the courts."

That mechanism is a magisterial inquiry, Repubblika said.

Only evidence gathered through the criminal investigative process, under the supervision of an inquiring magistrate and with the assistance of court-appointed experts, can be properly preserved and presented in any eventual criminal proceedings, it added.

"We do not know what use was made of the laptop or the internet connection. The public is not in a position to know.

"However, we do know who Agius is. He is serving a life sentence for his role in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the murder of Carmel Chircop. For many years, investigators have identified him as a central figure in organised criminal activity."

In such circumstances, it was only prudent to proceed on the presumption that a device enabling communication with the outside world may have been used for criminal purposes, unless and until the contrary is established, the NGO said, adding that the possibility that the device contained evidence relevant to criminal activity in the past, present, or future could not be ignored.

"The authorities must take action proportionate to the gravity of the situation.

"Every day that passes without potential evidence being preserved and examined through the appropriate judicial procedures increases the risk that evidence will be lost or that any future prosecution will be compromised.

"The public has a right to know not only how this situation came about, but also what the laptop was used for."

The insistence on relying solely on an internal administrative inquiry created the impression that the authorities were more interested in limiting the political damage they might suffer than in establishing the full truth, Repubblika claimed. 

The NGO said it feared that an opportunity to collect and preserve important evidence was being lost. It urged the authorities to act immediately.