Court stays extradition proceedings

A magistrate presiding over extradition proceedings against a Maltese man and two Chinese nationals wanted for human trafficking yesterday upheld a request to stay the proceedings against one of the foreigners until a pending court case is decided.

Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna put off the extradition proceedings against Lin Yi as he is currently facing separate charges over another case of human trafficking and falsifying a passport.

Extradition proceedings were initiated against Mr Lin, his compatriot Wei Wang and Maltese Carmelo Borg as they are wanted by Italian authorities in connection with the Maundy Thursday drowning of six Chinese and Mongolian illegal immigrants some 15 miles off Sicily when they were forced off a boat that allegedly left from Malta.

During the previous sitting, on Monday, the proceedings against Mr Lin were separated from the proceedings against Ms Wei and Mr Borg.

Mr Lin's lawyer, Joseph Giglio, had asked the magistrate to put off the proceedings against his client until the pending court case is decided and, in yesterday's sitting, the magistrate upheld the request and put off the case indefinitely.

Magistrate Apap Bologna however turned down a request filed by lawyers José Herrera and Edward Zammit Lewis, the defence team for Mr Borg, to allow Mr Borg to produce his evidence in the extradition proceedings.

In his ruling the magistrate noted that the role of the court was to decide on whether the offences were extraditable or not. The only evidence the court could hear by the defence was on whether or not there was a bar on extradition according to law and, for this reason, Mr Borg's request could not be adhered to at this stage.

Dr Herrera, Dr Zammit Lewis and lawyer Franco Debono, for Ms Wei, then called on the court to stay the extradition proceedings until an application filed before the First Hall of the Civil Court was decided.

The lawyers had filed a writ in the First Hall contesting the validity of the law in terms of which a European arrest warrant had been issued. The civil court is expected to hear the case on Monday.

Magistrate Apap Bologna put off the proceedings against Ms Wei and Mr Borg to Tuesday.