Two men who are serving time for the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia have filed a judicial protest claiming they are suffering “inhuman and discriminatory” treatment at the prisons.

Alfred and George Degiorgio claimed, among other things, that they are being denied privileges granted to fellow inmates.

Alfred Degiorgio said he had been denied permission to visit his brother, who is housebound because of health reasons, even though other prisoners were granted leave to visit sick relatives or attend family events under leave arrangements at least twice a year. No explanation had been given by prison authorities. 

“It is clear that the reason for the refusal is not being disclosed because it is unjust,” claimed the brothers, who are currently serving a 40-year jail term after admitting at the start of their trial to their involvement as hitmen in Caruana Galizia's car bomb murder.  

There was a public outcry last February when George Degiorgio was allowed out of prison to attend a family baptism party. Times of Malta had published pictures from the party showing him smiling and posing for photos with relatives. In April Alfred Degiorgio had his request for prison leave rejected. He had sought permission to spend two hours at his daughter’s birthday party at a residence in a southern town in Malta.   

In their judicial protest, the brothers observed that in a recent report, the Principal Forensic Psychologist detailed the efforts being made by the Corradino Correctional Facility's authorities to bring inmates closer to their relatives.

It was therefore ironic, they said, that while speaking of such efforts, in their case decisions effectively went against such purported efforts.

Request to be moved out of Division 5

The Degiorgios also protested that they were being held in Division 5 where they were denied certain privileges available to inmates in other divisions, such as the right to work and visit the library.

All this amounted to inhuman and discriminatory treatment that lacked a legal and moral basis, argued the brothers.

They requested the Director of the Correctional Services Agency and the Prison Visitors' Board to consider Alfred’s application to visit his brother and for the prison authorities to stop denying them prison leave. They also asked to be moved out of Division 5 or at least to be afforded the same privileges as fellow prisoners.

Lawyers Leslie Cuschieri and Noel Bianco signed the protest.