‘Unnecessarily Dragged-Out Proceedings’: Maltese Man Sues State Over Decades-Long Court Delay
A Maltese man is suing the state after waiting twenty years in court over charges of theft, fraud, and circulation of fake currency.
Nazzereno Dalli was first charged in 2004, as he became one of the suspects involved in a series of thefts from fuel services stations – he pleaded not guilty.
The case was shelved 29 times since 2004, and only one of the delays was the suspect’s fault – he was sick and provided a medical certificate.
After years of delays and stalemates, in 2019, a new magistrate and police officer took over the prosecution, filing an application for the case to be back on the court list of hearings.
Dalli stated that for over two decades, he was forced to put his life on hold. Through his lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri, he claimed that this dragged-out legal case was in breach of his right to be tried within a reasonable time.
In twenty years, the prosecution had only produced one witness, who in the meantime had passed away.
Considering this and the fact that the court failed to produce any evidence, Dalli was acquitted of all criminal liability. When the verdict was delivered, the magistrate said that this was ”another classic example of unnecessarily dragged-out proceedings”.
In a past interview with Lovin Malta, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard showed his concern with how long so many court cases take –
”Some delays don’t make sense to the accused, the victim, or society… We want to speed up the process, which means that things must take place well, more systematically, and more efficiently. We cannot generalise and say so-and-so cases must be processed within a certain span of time but certainly the average time some cases are taking doesn’t make sense.”
Have you ever personally experienced court delays in Malta?
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