Degiorgio has taken further legal action in an attempt to have investigations against him nullified, after a court last week ruled that a wiretap against him was illegal. 

In a judicial protest filed on Tuesday, Degiorgio said that nothing the court did could erase from the mind of jurors what they have heard about the case against him.  

His lawyer has also filed an appeal against a civil court judgement, arguing that the Security Service Act, which sets the legal framework for wiretaps, should be declared null and void. 

Degiorgio is, together with his brother Alfred, awaiting trial as alleged hitmen in the car bomb explosion that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia on October 16, 2017.

The brothers have been held in preventative custody since they were arraigned in December of that year. Both are pleading not guilty to charges. 

In his judicial protest, Degiorgio claimed that lead investigator superintendent Keith Arnaud had “bragged” about the phone intercepts the police possessed and claimed during interrogation that those tapped calls were crucial in nailing him and his brother.

Degiorgio has been battling to have the wiretaps declared illegal for years, having filed a judicial protest to that effect in August 2019. His lawyer has argued that the phone intercepts were a key component in the magistrate court deciding that Degiorgio had a prima facie case to answer for the Caruana Galizia murder. 

Yet the prosecution never produced recordings nor transcripts of those intercepted calls, nor was the Malta Security Services Chief ever summoned to confirm their veracity.

Now two years down the line, it has been confirmed in separate proceedings that those intercepts were done illegally, under a ministerial warrant that was expired. 

A pre-trial plea by Degiorgio – one of roughly 100 he filed – to have that phone tapping information removed from the records of Arnaud’s testimony was upheld by a Court of Criminal Appeal in September. All the other pleas filed were rejected. 

A Civil Court last week ordered that Degiorgio be awarded €10,000 in compensation for illegal wiretap, which it said breached his right to privacy but did not affect his right to a fair hearing. 

The Malta Security Service has said it will be appealing that judgement. 

Degiorgio is however insisting that the illegal wiretap has annihilated his presumption of innocence and means he can never receive a fair trial. 

No removal of references from the records of the case will erase from the jurors’ minds all that has been said in court, or through police sources and published by the media, Degiorgio argued in his judicial protest. 

No matter how the judge will address the jury, nothing will erase from the minds of jurors whatever they might have heard previously about the case. 

Degiorgio claimed that he could have no reassurance in light of all illegalities committed in his regard, citing by way of example the close proximity of self-confessed middleman Melvin Theuma with former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar under whose watch he had been arrested. 

He would take all necessary steps to ensure that he would not be prosecuted on the strength of such investigations that were conducted in breach of law and which did not guarantee his presumption of innocence and other legal safeguards, Degiorgio protested by means of his lawyer William Cuschieri.

Degiorgio seeks to nullify Security Service Act

Meanwhile, today Degiorgio’s lawyer also filed an appeal against the judgment delivered last week by Mr Justice Toni Abela, requesting the Constitutional Court to vary that decision by also declaring a breach of the appellant’s right to a fair hearing in terms of Article 6 of the European Convention.

He also requested the court to declare the Security Service Act as null and void since it breached the appellant’s rights and to order the removal from the murder case of all evidence obtained illegally.

Degiorgio’s lawyer also requested the court to increase the awarded compensation of €10,000 and to declare the Police Commissioner also liable alongside the Attorney General and the MSS Chief.

Lawyer William Cuschieri signed both the judicial protest and the appeal.