An evidence-gathering inquiry into migrant deaths at sea was delayed by a day because the Police Commissioner’s secretariat was already closed when a criminal complaint was filed by rule of law NGO Repubblika. 

A spokesman for the police told Times of Malta that the complaint reached police headquarters “late in the afternoon” on April 16, in a sealed envelope addressed to the acting Police Commissioner, at a time when his secretariat was closed. 

The NGO issued a public statement about its criminal complaint at around 5pm that same day, which was widely reported by media outlets. 

A spokesman for the NGO told Times of Malta that the complaint was filed at 3.20pm. 

“The secretariat opens at 7.30am. As soon as the secretariat was opened on April 17, the complaint was passed on to the acting Commissioner and processed immediately”, the police said. 

According to the inquiry document published by the government on Saturday, the inquiring magistrate was formally notified about Repubblika’s report at 6pm on April 17. 

The police pointed out that the law allowed Repubblika to go directly to a magistrate themselves in such a case. The spokesman said the police would be analysing the inquiry report, which absolved Prime Minister Robert Abela and the AFM of any blame for the deaths.

Repubblika slammed the delay in the inquiry’s start in comments given to Times of Malta prior to the inquiry’s publication. 

“We filed our complaint to the police at 3.20pm on April 16. The complaint was not about a cat stuck in a tree which would have likely got more urgent attention by the authorities. It concerned the deaths of 12 people. We alleged their deaths could have been a consequence of decisions taken by people we identified by name”, the spokesman said. 

The spokesman said Repubblika would have expected the police to start investigating without waiting for anyone’s complaint, as news of the deaths had been in the public domain for several hours already. 

Furthermore, the job of the inquiring magistrate is to preserve evidence, and the more time goes by, the less the magistrate is likely to find, the spokesman continued. 

The spokesman speculated whether the inquiry was delayed to give time to suppress evidence or forum shop for a “safer” magistrate to be on duty.

“Either way, or whatever other explanation is possible, this is subverting the rule of law and submitting it to the rule of the political advantage the prime minister needs. 

“We are concerned that the state and its institutions have not acted to the best of their abilities to give justice to people who died at sea, or where illegally pushed back to Libya or illegally pushed out of Malta’s territorial waters.”

A question of time 

A Repubblika executive committee member gave the following account to Times of Malta about how the complaint was filed.

“Given the urgency of the matter I, as a member of Repubblika’s executive committee, went personally to the Police Headquarters in Floriana on Thursday April 16 at 3.15pm to deliver the two reports requesting investigation into the actions of the Prime Minister Robert Abela and the P52 crew with regards to the death of migrants at sea over the Easter weekend. 

"Upon entering the police HQ I was told by the guard that since the envelope was addressed to the Police Commissioner and was being delivered by hand it had to be given immediately to a person from the Office of the Police Commissioner. 

"Although unsure, the guard said that he thought everyone in the Commissioner’s office had left for the day but upon my insistence since the matter was important, the guard proceeded to check whether everyone from the office had indeed left.

"He phoned and confirmed that a person, if not mistaken he mentioned 'segretarja (secretary)', from the office was still present and would come to collect the 2 envelopes and that all was fine therefore. 

"I asked whether I should wait since the document was important. The guard told me not to worry and assured me that she (the secretary) would be handed the envelope in a few minutes. I then left reassured. The whole encounter took around six minutes."

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