Man claims jury service discriminates against men

A man who had been called to serve as a juror at least five times has filed an application in the European Court of Human Rights claiming he has been discriminated against on the ground of his gender "as the percentage of women requested to undertake jury service in Malta is negligible".

In his application, Maurice Zarb Adami, a pharmacist and university lecturer from Attard, claimed he had been discriminated against and his fundamental human rights had been breached.

In a press statement the registrar of the European Court explained that Mr Zarb Adami was placed on the list of jurors in Malta and remained on the list until at least 2002.

Between 1971 and 1997 he served as both a juror and foreman in three different cases and in 1997 he was called again to serve as a juror but failed to appear and was fined about €240 (about Lm100).

Mr Zarb Adami was summoned before the Criminal Court when he failed to pay the fine.

He contested the fine arguing that it was discriminatory in terms of the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

He also argued that others in his position were not subjected to the burdens and duties of jury service and that the law and/or the domestic practice exempted women from jury service, but not men.

His case was referred to the First Hall of the Civil Court. There Mr Zarb Adami alleged that the Maltese system penalised men and favoured women.

During the preceding five years, he said, only 3.05 per cent of women had served as jurors as opposed to 96.95 per cent of men.

Moreover, the burden of jury service was not equitably distributed as in 1997 the list of jurors represented only 3.4 per cent of the list of voters, the press statement read.

On February 5, 1999, the Civil Court rejected Mr Zarb Adami's claims.

He appealed, stressing that jury service was a burden, as jurors were required to leave their work to attend court hearings regularly. It also imposed a moral burden to judge the innocence or guilt of a person. His appeal was rejected.

Then, in 2003, as a lecturer at the University of Malta, Mr Zarb Adami unsuccessfully sought exemption from jury service, under the Criminal Code.

Having been summoned once again to serve as a juror in another trial, in 2004, he requested to be exempted from jury service but, once again, his application was refused.

Mr Zarb Adami then took his case before the European Court where he is arguing that he has been the victim of discrimination on the ground of sex and that he has been obliged to face criminal proceedings in relation to the imposition of a discriminatory civic obligation.