“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola reminded everyone, reacting to the story of a Santa Luċija youth who has been unable to continue living his life for the last 11 years due to an ongoing court case.

“11 years ago, a 16-year-old boy was arrested and accused of drug trafficking,” Metsola said in a Facebook post yesterday evening. “He’s now almost 30 and his case is still pending. He has not been cleared, he has not been found guilty. He has spent his formative years with this hanging over his head.”

“Everyone has a right to a trial within a reasonable time – it should be even more urgent when we are talking about a minor,” Metsola reiterated. “This is not justice, it’s the opposite.”

Mason Nehls’ story made headlines over the weekend, with the young man telling Lovin Malta he’ll never forget that fateful night in 2009.

Arrested in a police sting operation over an alleged drug haul, Nehls has had to live in the shadow of that one night for over a decade, with the case taking 11 years to be heard and still ongoing to this very day. “I’ll never forget when the inspector turned to me and said: ‘It would have been better if you were brought in for murder than for drugs’,” Nehls told Lovin Malta.

Reacting to the young man’s story, MEP Roberta Metsola highlighted the issue with Malta’s current system, arguing that it desperately needed to be fixed.

“If the system allows this to happen, the system is broken,” Metsola said, finishing up with #FixTheSystem.