Lawyer Franco Debono has requested that the Vitals magisterial inquiry be deemed inadmissible in an ongoing court case as the rights of some suspects were breached.

Debono is representing Kevin Deguara, Kenneth Deguara, Jean Carl Farrugia and Robert Borg, who were in court today as one of a number of cases in connection with the inquiry.

He argued that, unlike in general magisterial inquiries, when an inquiry is requested by a private citizen, that person must indicate a suspect or suspects.

Those suspects have a right to be informed that they have been named as suspects, a right to respond, and, if the magistrate decides to proceed, a right to appeal.

However, those same rights don’t apply to new suspects whose names crop up during the course of the inquiry.

Debono warned that, since his clients weren’t awarded those rights, the inquiry should be completely removed from the acts of the case.

Defence lawyers Arthur Azzopardi, Stefano Filletti, Jonathan Thomson and Ezekiel Psaila agreed with him, but the prosecution objected.

It is the latest legal challenge to the inquiry. In a separate case yesterday, defence lawyers warned that they will request that the inquiry be deemed inadmissible in court if forensic expert Jeremy Harbinson continues refusing to testify.