Labour questions delay in new right for interrogated persons

The Labour Party has asked the government to explain why an amendment unanimously approved by Parliament five years ago, giving persons being interrogated by the police the right to legal assistance, has not yet been introduced.

Gavin Gulia, Labour's main spokesman on home affairs, said that although other amendments to the Criminal Code had come into effect with the relevant legal notices, the one giving legal assistance to persons being interrogated in relation to criminal offences, something both sides of the House had agreed upon, remained shelved.

Dr Gulia said that he had repeatedly asked the government why such an important amendment had not been introduced. The amendment had been moved by the government so the fact that it was not implemented showed that the government was not confident of its own legislation.

He said that the government's procrastination put the police force in an awkward position and cost the country two separate inquiries to establish exactly what happened at the police headquarters in the relation to the death of Nicholas Azzopardi. Worse still, weeks after this incident, the Nationalist government had not found the time to bring this right into effect without any delay with the issue of a simple legal notice.