Toni Abela: 'I need a goal or I get sick'

He could have eased into retirement. Instead, just days after taking his oath as Malta’s first Commissioner for Standards in the Judiciary, Toni Abela found himself fielding complaints from the public. And most of them were about justice taking too long.

“Even on the day I took my oath, I started seeing complaints,” Judge Emeritus Abela told Times of Malta.

Of the five he received in his first days as Standards tsar, three queries have been about delays.

“People are upset with delays,” Abela said, while acknowledging that the average lifespan of a sentence has drastically reduced over the years.

“I remember where a case used to span between 12 and 15 years but now it is between three and five years.”

In an interview, he said cases sometimes take long because they are complex, like hereditary issues that involve dozens of people who are in disagreement.

And sometimes lawyers themselves employ delaying strategies because they believe it is what’s best for their client.

But even in such cases it is the magistrate or judge’s responsibility to stop unnecessary delays, Abela said, quoting past European court decisions.

Ultimately, the new commissioner believes members of the judiciary have a lot on their plate.

“Delays really hurt people, because as they say – justice delayed is justice denied, and the longer procedures take the bigger the chance of justice not being served. Even if you win a case – the execution of a sentence can end up meaning nothing,” he said.

Other issues, like delays to decide on a court application, can also have a real impact on people’s lives.

“We’re sometimes talking about issues like having access to your children.”

Abela believes his role as a “messenger of complaints but who also gives his opinion” will help solve some issues with court delays.

In the last week, he has already been able to solve some cases that have come in front of him. He has done this by making members of the judiciary aware that an issue has cropped up and trying to ensure there is a satisfactory solution for all sides.

“Nothing good will come out of tying someone up and flagellating them,” he said. “But I’ll be clear, if I tell someone that something should be done, and they do not, I will take my observations to the Commission for the Administration of Justice. As they say: “to err is human but to persist in error is diabolical.”

As Standards Commissioner, Abela can recommend a simple citation for a magistrate or judge, a reduction in pay, a suspension, and even removal from their post, but it will be the Commission for the Administration of Justice who has the final say.

Abela has the option to either send his recommendations after approaching both sides or after calling a hearing. The proceedings are not made public.

“But just as I do not mind telling a member of the judiciary they are wrong, I will have no qualms with telling someone that they do not have a justified complaint,” Abela said.

The judge made it clear his role is not to interfere with the independence of the judiciary, stressing the commissioner’s role was not that of a “third court of appeal” and would have nothing to do with re-evaluating court sentences.

As Commissioner, Abela will soon have a small team, an office, and an official way to contact him, but for now he is working in an ad hoc arrangement where complaints are sent to the President’s office and then to him.

‘The role of judge or magistrate is depressing’

Abela took his new office a few months after he resigned from the bench in June after turning 68.

So what has pushed him to opt out of retirement?

“I could have done as many do, that after retiring I would relax on a deckchair with a case of beer and watch the sunrise and sunset, but I need a goal in my life. If I don’t have one I get sick. I’m speaking seriously, I get physically sick,” Abela conceded.

“I’m like the shoemaker who makes shoes for others but then walks barefoot.”

Having returned to public life just half a year after leaving the bench, Times of Malta asked Abela how he responded to criticism that he was too close to those he is meant to oversee.

“I have had roles in the past where I had to take decisions against friends of mine and I never had qualms to make them... As soon as I am entrusted in a role, I want to execute it with utmost objectivity,” he said.

Abela said it was a necessary quality for a Standards Commissioner for the Judiciary to have had significant courtroom experience.

“You know who they are, and you know what the work entails. I know each of their strengths and shortcomings, just as I have strengths and shortcomings,” he said.

Still, ever since his appointment, Abela has distanced himself from his former colleagues on the bench.

“I used to fraternise with them but now I cannot. I have had to refuse two invitations since I took the post,” Abela said.

I’m like the shoemaker who makes shoes for others but then walks barefoot- Toni Abela

Having been a judge until a few months ago, Abela said he can understand the mental pressures that the judiciary experience.

“Members of the judiciary experience health problems, I know several of them who have passed through this. The work of a judge or magistrate is depressing,” he said.

The judiciary, as people, are isolated and constantly criticised. At the same time, everyone is expecting something from them, Abela said.

“In Malta, unlike other countries, we do not have psychological assistance provided to the judiciary and sometimes they (judges and magistrates) find themselves in a very depressive state.”

Abela believes that psychological services will eventually be provided.

“All parts of the body need their maintenance,” he said.

Beside his role of receiving complaints Abela also has a “statistical” role to play.

He said that he will keep abreast with statistics that show the backlog of cases for each judge and magistrate.

“This will be a guide for me to talk with the judiciary and ask why someone might be falling behind”.