Disgraced former judge Patrick Vella left prison yesterday after serving 16 months for accepting a bribe in the now notorious drug trafficking case involving Mario Camilleri, known as L-Imnieħru.

In March 2007, Dr Vella had pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe of Lm10,000 for reducing Mr Camilleri's jail term in a drug trafficking case. He was given a two-year jail term, which, in prison terms, translates to 16 months, unless the inmate is reported for misconduct.

Attempts to get a comment from Dr Vella through his lawyer were unsuccessful. He let it be known that he would rather put the whole debacle behind him.

He was held in the division for vulnerable people, out of fear that other inmates, previously sentenced by him, could be a threat.

His conviction followed that of Joseph Zammit, known as Is-Sei, who a year earlier had admitted to bribing Dr Vella and former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo.

The case was revealed to the country by then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami in a press conference that shook the country and made international headlines.

The former judges were originally arraigned together, along with Mr Camilleri, his son Pierre and businessman Anthony John Grech Sant, whose cases, along with that of the former Chief Justice, remain pending.

At one stage, Dr Vella pleaded guilty. One of his lawyers, Roberto Montalto, had read out a statement on his behalf saying that "he apologises, without any conditions, to Maltese society in general for his actions and declares he is sorry for the damage he caused to the same society".

Initially, he had filed an appeal claiming the punishment was "excessive and disproportionate" amid a public debate in which a substantial majority felt that the sentence had actually been lenient. He eventually dropped the appeal.

Initially, the two former judges had launched a long-winded legal battle against their arraignment. They had filed a case in the First Hall of the Civil Court arguing that Dr Fenech Adami's comments during the August 2002 press conference were in breach of their fundamental human right to a fair trial.

In December of that same year, the court dismissed the case, ruling that the Prime Minister's declarations could not be considered as statements of guilt and, therefore, their fundamental rights had not been breached.

The accused appealed to the Constitutional Court, which in 2003 ruled that their right to presumption of innocence had been breached in that press conference. Yet, the court concluded that, as the judges' fundamental human right to trial by an independent and impartial court had not been violated, there was no reason to halt the criminal proceedings against them.

The former judges took their case to the European Court of Human Rights but their case was rejected in May 2005.