A murder suspect's right to a fair hearing was breached when he ended up in more than 30 days of legal limbo, unable to challenge his state of arrest while his case changed hands from one judge to another, a court has declared.
The facts surrounding the case emerged some months ago when lawyers for Aleksandr Stojanovic, a 43-year-old Serb currently awaiting trial for a murder that took place in Gozo five years ago, first flagged the accused's plight before the criminal courts.
Stojanovic stands accused of the murder of Egyptian Walid Salah Abdel Motaleb Mohammed.
The bill of indictment was presented by the Attorney General in November 2022.
The accused's lawyers filed several requests for bail but all were turned down, mainly because the courts deemed Stojanovic untrustworthy.
The accused had fled from Serbia where he was wanted to serve a term of imprisonment of three and a half years.
But following the filing of the bill of indictment, his case changed hands some four times as one judge after another abstained.
The accused’s lawyers filed a request for bail and after over a month without any news, they filed a second request, then sought to jolt the courts into action by seeking a special procedure whereby the defence may challenge the legality of the arrest.
However, that challenge also failed since the Criminal Court observed that the law did not allow the procedure once the bill of indictment had been issued.
That ruling brought to the fore the anomalous scenario currently existing under Maltese law and prompted Stojanovic to seek recourse before the constitutional courts.
His lawyers argued that the fact that the law did not allow the habeas corpus remedy to those issued with a bill of indictment, breached the accused’s right to a fair hearing.
Their argument was upheld on Thursday by the First Hall, Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction, flagging this shortcoming and calling upon the legislator to effect the necessary amendments.
“This court cannot understand what makes the freedom of a person less important and less fundamental once the bill of indictment has been issued,” Madam Justice Joanne Vella Cuschieri observed.
Whilst declaring that Stojanovic’s right to a fair hearing had been breached, the judge rejected his request for immediate release.
The court observed that when Stojanovic’s bail request was finally heard before the Criminal Court after over 30 days of legal limbo, it was ultimately turned down.
So even if it were heard earlier, the outcome would have been the same, added the judge.
However, although as argued by the Attorney General and State Advocate, this was a “truly exceptional” case, it was nonetheless an eye-opener for the legislator that such a remedy ought to apply even when the bill of indictment had been issued.
Such remedy should apply throughout the whole course of the criminal proceedings, the judge declared.
The court awarded Stojanovic €500 by way of compensation and ordered that a copy of the judgment be sent to the Speaker of House of Representatives once it became final.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Jose’ Herrera assisted the applicant.