George and Alfred Degiorgio, who have been in preventive custody since December 2017 as suspected hitmen in the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination, have made a fresh bid for bail.

The two brothers, who originally faced charges alongside Vincent Muscat as the now self-confessed hitman in the car bomb murder, are claiming that they have reached a stage where it seems that not only are the courts unwilling to grant them bail, but no court appears willing to hear them out. 

This claim was made in the wake of their latest bail application which they filed before the Court of Appeal after the Criminal Court abstained from deciding upon the matter, declaring that it lacked competence. 

The applicants have now turned to the Court of Appeal in its superior jurisdiction, basing their request on two principal arguments. 

30-month limit over

The law provides a maximum 30-month limit of preventive custody running from the date when the bill of indictment is issued.

The Degiorgios were arrested in December 2017 and remanded in custody upon their arraignment shortly afterwards.

The Attorney General issued the bill of indictment in their regard in July 2019 and the criminal inquiry has also been wrapped up.

This meant that the 30-month limit had lapsed, argued the applicants’ lawyer, William Cuschieri. 

Secondly, none of the fears envisaged by law and militating against the granting of bail, subsisted, the court was told. 

And if the court fears that granting bail would trigger public disorder, then how greater is the fear that the jurors will never deliver a fair hearing and verdict against the Degiorgios, given the prejudice in their regard, he asked.

The public’s view on such a matter should not interfere with the court’s serene judgment, argued Degiorgios’ lawyer, citing ECHR pronouncements on this issue. 

In Lijkov vs Bulgaria (2002) the court held that “… the existence of the concrete facts outweighing the rule of respect for individual liberty must nevertheless be convincing.”

Moreover, “reference to a person’s antecedents cannot suffice to justify refusing release,” that court had said. 

The Court of Criminal Appeal is now expected to hear submissions on this latest request by the Degiorgios before delivering a decision.