Peppi Azzopardi Calls For ‘Urgent Changes’ At Prison After Hugo Chetcuti’s Murderer Attempts Suicide
Leading journalist and prisoner rights campaigner Peppi Azzopardi has urged the prison to implement “urgent changes” after the man found guilty of murdering entrepreneur Hugo Chetcuti tried to commit suicide overnight.
“While I can confirm that the new prison leadership is trying to move away from the fascism with which it was run in the past, this doesn’t justify what happened,” Azzopardi warned. “Changes must be implemented more urgently than they currently are.”
“I won’t justify this attempted suicide, even though I know there exists a commitment to make the prison more human. The prison leadership should shoulder responsibility and ensure this incident doesn’t repeat itself.”
Serbian national Bojan Cmelik was last year found guilty of murdering Chetcuti in July 2018 by stabbing him in the back outside his newest Paceville establishment.
He was jailed for life and given court-imposed periods of solitary confinement, one of only a few prisoners who have had this penalty added to their sentence.
Times of Malta reported today that Cmelik was found bleeding in Division 5 yesterday evening after a suicide attempt and was admitted to Mater Dei Hospital with a “very deep cut”.
Last year, Azzopardi spearheaded a successful campaign to remove Col Alex Dalli as prison director in the wake of a number of suicides within Kordin and allegations that prisoners were being mistreated.
After prisoner Colin Galea committed suicide in August 2021, the government commissioned an internal inquiry, led by leading psychiatrist Anton Grech, into prison practices.
The inquiry made 32 recommendations, including separating convicted prisoners from those awaiting their sentence, establishing a Prison Ombudsman and moving responsibility for prisoner discipline away from the prison director and into the hands of a disciplinary board, which would include a mental health professional.
Dalli resigned as director in the wake of the inquiry and was replaced by Robert Brincau, a former Director of Operations at Red Cross Malta.
Cover photo: Left: Peppi Azzopardi at this year’s State of the Nation conference, Right: Prison CEO Robert Brincau
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