Chamber queries new inquiry into police beating allegations

The Chamber of Advocates has called on the government to clarify why it felt the need to appoint Judge Albert Manche' to hold an inquiry into the death of Nicholas Azzopardi when Magistrate Antonio Vella is conducting a magisterial inquiry into the same case.

Mr Azzopardi's family is alleging that Nicholas Azzopardi died as a result of a beating he suffered at police headquarters. The police have said he tried to escape custody and hurt himself when he jumped over a high wall behind headquarters.

The Chamber in a brief statement said there should not be duplicate processes on the same case because of the potential risk of conflicting conclusions.

It was also important not to give the impression that there was lack of confidence in the judicial process, the Chamber said.

Comments

Antoine Bartolo (2 weeks, 1 day ago)

Why should the chamber be worrying about conflicting results? If everyone does their job properly then there should only be one outcome! The chamber's comments can lead someone to think that they believe that individuals leading the inquiries might be either un-professional or worse even un-ethical........

Vanessa-clair Farrugia (2 weeks, 1 day ago)

Then another inquiry is called, and another, and another, until two inquiries have matching results...

What else?!

P Sultana (2 weeks, 1 day ago)

I don't quite agree with the Chamber's argument. Let the second investigation serve as a control mechanism on the first. If both investigations give the same result we have the comfort of knowing that the conclusion is probably correct. Disagreement, on the other hand, means that there was a risk of miscarriage of justice.

R. Schembri (2 weeks, 1 day ago)

Suppose the magisterial inquiry and the judicial inquiry reached different conclusions, what then? Surely the best option is to have just one inquiry to investigate these serious allegations.