Maltese in prison in Modica wants to serve term in Malta

A Maltese national serving a prison sentence in Modica, Italy, has asked to continue to serve his sentence in Malta, his defence lawyers said.

Rupert Busuttil, who in July last year was found guilty of ferrying immigrants to Sicily together with Josef Debattista, has filed an application in a court in Catania to continue to serve his jail term in Malta in terms of the European convention on sentenced prisoners, of which both Malta and Italy are signatories.

The application was filed by Italian lawyer Antonio Campisi, who is working closely with Maltese lawyers Dr Michael Sciriha and Dr Anthony Cutajar.

It was understood that Debattista planned to make a similar request, the defence lawyers said.

Last July, Busuttil was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and fined Lm130,000 while Debattista was sentenced to four years in prison and fined Lm150,000. A Moroccan man was also jailed for being the main contact in Africa.

An appeals court in Catania last March reduced Debattista's and Busuttil's sentence by eight and four months respectively.

Debattista, 23, of Marsa, and Busuttil, 26, of Msida, were caught by the Guardia di Finanza in Ragusa in December 2000 and held in connection with trafficking of illegal immigrants.

In January last year, they were charged with ferrying illegal immigrants and their application for bail was turned down.

The Guardia di Finanza said the immigrants paid between $500 to $600 each for the trip.

The arrest sparked off an investigation which had led to the arrest of others in Malta as well as the arrest of a Tunisian and three Moroccans and two Italians.

The speedboat, Havana, was registered under Raymond Gauci's name. The intervention of Interpol was sought and Maltese nationals Raymond Gauci and Anthony Bartolo as well as Fatiha Khallouf were arrested and extradition requests were made.

Only last Thursday, a judge in the Civil Court dismissed a constitutional application filed by Gauci against the Attorney General, the Justice Minister, the Police Commissioner and Police Inspector Sandro Zarb, claiming that his fundamental human right to a fair hearing had been violated.

Last September, the Court of Criminal Appeal had ruled that Gauci and Anthony Bartolo were to be placed in custody for the purposes of their extradition to Italy to face charges of regular complicity in the trafficking of illegal immigrants to Sicily.

But Gauci had filed a Constitutional application claiming he had not been given a fair hearing by an independent and impartial court in accordance with the European convention on human rights and the constitution and asked the court to revoke the extradition order.

In a 78-page judgment, Justice Ray Pace dismissed Gauci's allegations and his constitutional application with costs.

Gauci's defence lawyers said an appeal was likely to be lodged.