Syrians caught with fake documents to be deported after serving minimum sentence
'If our country gets a reputation for lack of adequate border controls, we would be inviting trouble both for the country and others' - magistrate Monica Vella.
Three Syrian nationals on Thursday were handed the minimum punishment allowed by law in light of the turmoil in Syria after they pleaded guilty to using fake documents to leave Malta.
They will serve six months in prison before being deported.
Brothers Mohammad, 26, and Odai Hassan, 27 years old, and Maryam Alhesso, 23, were accused of being in possession of a falsified passport and of making use of forged documents.
The three Syrian nationals were arrested after they tried to leave Malta for Memmingem, Germany, using forged documents. They were stopped while checking in at Malta International Airport when airport officials realised they were trying to leave the country using fake documents.
The brothers, who reside in Jordan, were using a forged Greek identity document while Alhesso had a counterfeit Belgian residence permit.
The trio were arraigned on February 2 this year and had initially pleaded not guilty.
Weeks later, the trio changed their plea to guilty. By that time, all the prosecution witnesses had already testified and the court appointed an expert to analyse the documents.
In its consideration on punishment, the court said that an early guilty plea does not automatically mean a “discount” on punishment. It also observed that the charges brought against the accused are “serious” and said: “While our country needs to take care of its own internal security, it also has obligations at an EU level and European security.”
“If our country gets a reputation for lack of adequate border controls, we would be inviting trouble both for the country and others,” magistrate Monica Vella said.
The magistrate took into consideration their clean criminal record and the political situation in Syria, and said: “effective imprisonment would be a suitable punishment in such case, but the court needs to also take into account the turmoil in Syria”.
The court also ordered that a copy of the judgement is sent to the Police Commissioner as the Principle Immigration Officer to make the necessary preparations that once the judgement becomes definite and they serve the sentence, they are immediately deported out of the country.
Last December Malta joined several European countries in suspending the processing of asylum applications for Syrians, after the downfall of former president Bashar al-Assad.
Inspector Hubert Gerada prosecuted.