The Attorney General has filed an application requesting the court to overturn a magistrate’s decision to grant bail to two soldiers accused of killing a migrant in what is believed to be Malta’s first racially motivated murder.
He is requesting the Criminal Court to revoke the decree which granted soldiers Lorin Scicluna and Francesco Fenech bail against a deposit of €30,000, a €20,000 personal guarantee and a condition to sign the bail book daily.
The news of the decree may have shocked and surprised many but Malta’s laws do not discriminate against people accused of heinous crimes such as murder and allows them to be granted bail, subject to a number of criteria.
Mr Scicluna and Mr Fenech stand accused of having murdered Lassana Cisse in cold blood, in a drive-by shooting in Ħal Far earlier this year.
Two stand accused of having murdered Lassana Cisse in cold blood, in a drive-by shooting in Ħal Far earlier this year
Mr Cisse was walking home along a country lane after watching a football game when he was shot dead in April.
In his decree, Magistrate Ian Farrugia said he had taken into consideration a number of factors including that the accused, who were still presumed innocent, were facing a long prison term because of a racially motivated murder, that a large number of witnesses had been heard and no civil witnesses remained to be heard which could lead to an interference with the course of justice.
The court said it considered and examined important literature that was central to the right to liberty and security of the person. This mentioned four reasons as relevant for the continuation of a person’s pre-trial detention, where there was still a reasonable suspicion of his or her having committed an offence.
In his decision to grant bail to the two soldiers, Magistrate Farrugia examined all the criteria mentioned in the relevant legislation and said he found nothing at law to order their continued arrest, seven months after the compilation of evidence against them started.
Court sources said the case will be heard by Madam Justice Edwina Grima on Monday.
Lawyer Nadia Attard filed the request on behalf of the Attorney General.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Kris Busietta are representing Mr Scicluna while lawyers Giannella de Marco and Stephen Tonna Lowell are representing Mr Fenech.