Updated: Pl Sees Political Responsibility in Former Priest's Acquittal Due to Technicality

Times of Malta
April 19, 2012

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120419/local/pl-sees-political-responsibility-in-former-priest-s-acquittal-due-to-technicality.416233

[see story]

Dr Jose' Herrera, Opposition spokesman on justice.

Prosecution as administered by the Attorney General's office is independent and no minister has the power to get involved in it, the Justice Ministry said this evening.

The ministry was replying to criticism by the Labour spokesman on justice, Jose' Herrera, earlier today.

Dr Herrera said thats that political responsibility had to be shouldered for the fact that a former priest was acquitted of raping a child because of a mistake in the charge sheet. (see story http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120419/local/Priest-rape-case-error-could-have-been-fixed.416073)

Speaking at a press conference outside the law courts, Dr Herrera said that then Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici had known about a shortage of staff at the Attorney General's Office, but had not invested enough in the office at the time.

Although some recruitment of lawyers had since been made, staff shortages were still being felt.

He said that the AG's office has to deal with all prosecutions while also representing the government in court and assisting in the drafting of laws.

What happened yesterday, Dr Herrera said, was also a wake-up call for reform in the way how court documents bounced 'like ping pong balls' from the courts to the Attorney General's office, wasting a lot of time.

Dr Herrera also complained that the government was not acting quickly enough after the Constitutional Court ruled that local laws, or aspects of those laws, were in breach of human rights. This, he said, was creating a state of illegality within the legal sector itself and grey areas in sectors such as adoptions and property transfers.

Dr Michael Falzon, opposition spokesman on home affairs, said these situations were highlighted in the Opposition's parliamentary motion on the justice sector, but the government had not brought this motion for debate, with Dr Mifsud Bonnici himself serving as gate-keeper through his role as Leader of the House.

In its reaction, the ministry said that Dr Herrera's declarations were politically irresponsbile as they showed that the Labour Party believed there could be involvement in the AG;s decisions. Such involvement would undermine the AG's independence.

The issue, the ministry said, did not have anything to do with staffing levels at the AG. The AG's office had not been peading the prosecution in court in this case with the parties present for the procedures , particularly the parte civile, never pointing out to the prosecuting official the discrepancy.

The AG's decision not to request a correction at a later stage was taken to avoid worse consequences. For to request a correction at that stage could have led to the cases being prescriped.