Magistrate orders police to release two from arrest

Two men, who were arraigned under arrest, were yesterday released after a magistrate ruled that the courts could not tolerate a situation where a person was asked to show up at a police station voluntarily and is then arrested and arraigned.

"The court cannot accept that on the one hand a person is ordered to appear at the police station voluntarily and on the other he appears there only to be arraigned under arrest. These two concepts contradict each other and do not follow," Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera said.

The magistrate was presiding over the arraignment of Andrew Kelly, 29, of Birkirkara and Reginald Cini, 34, of Valletta who pleaded not guilty to assaulting three men at Sabor bar in Paceville on Sunday.

They also pleaded not guilty to causing over Lm50 damage at the bar and breaching the peace.

Mr Kelly, a police officer, was charged with committing a crime he was in duty bound to prevent.

During the arraignment, lawyer Joseph Giglio argued that his clients' arrest was invalid as they had been given a voluntary attendance form after being questioned by the police and were not put on police bail.

Police Inspector Mario Tonna, prosecuting, said the police concluded investigations into the case on Tuesday night.

The police had not held the accused under arrest because they did not need to question them further but were awaiting information about who had been injured and the extent of the damage caused, he said.

The case continues.