Anthony Mifsud, a former prison guard wrongfully charged over the 1982 prison escape of Louis Bartolo and Ahmed Khalil Habib, won more than €180,000 in compensation after a court ruled he had been tortured by two former police superintendents during interrogation.

Mr Mifsud, who was in his 20s at the time, had been arrested, tortured and wrongfully charged with corruption and complicity in the notorious escape after a "confession" he made under interrogation at gunpoint by one of the police officers.

He was found not guilty in a trial by jury but spent three years in prison awaiting trial, a substantial part of which he spent in solitary confinement.

The two officers - Joseph Psaila and Carmelo Bonello - have now been ordered to pay €186,349, along with disgraced former Police Commissioner Lawrence Pullicino, who was held responsible for failing to stop the torture.

In his suit against the police officers, Mr Mifsud claimed that his fundamental human right to freedom from degrading and inhuman treatment had been violated as was his right to freedom from arbitrary arrest.

The two officers claimed that Mr Mifsud had failed to use the ordinary remedies available to him by law and that he had not requested his right to seek relief from unlawful detention. Furthermore, Mr Mifsud's claim of damages was time-barred, they argued.

The two officers further pleaded that Mr Mifsud had failed to mention the alleged torture during his arraignment.

Dr Pullicino defended himself by pointing out that he had not been involved in the case and that he had been overseas when Mr Mifsud was arrested. Nor had he participated in Mr Mifsud's interrogation.

However, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Raymond Pace, dismissed the officers' pleas.

Mr Justice Pace found Mr Mifsud's version of events to be far more credible than that of the officers. He noted that, after having been examined by a psychiatrist in 1992, Mr Mifsud was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and that he was not fantasising about events.

The court also said that, although Dr Pullicino had claimed he was overseas when Mr Mifsud was arrested, he had returned while he was still under arrest and had not taken any action to release him within 48 hours. Moreover, while Dr Pullicino had not participated in the interrogation, it had been his duty at the time to make sure that no such violations of the Constitution took place. As a result, he was also held responsible.

Mr Psaila and Mr Bonello were found to have abusively treated Mr Mifsud and beaten him. The fact that the two police officers were under pressure to solve the case of the escaped prisoners could not justify their treatment of Mr Mifsud, the court concluded.

Ordeal under interrogation

The court heard how Mr Mifsud had been summoned to the prisons after the escape. He was then taken to the police headquarters for interrogation.

He was asked whether he had participated in Mr Bartolo's escape and was then beaten.

Mr Mifsud said that Mr Bonello had been present and had punched him. The superintendent was armed and, after Mr Mifsud was forced to sit down, Mr Bonello had stood behind him and pressed a gun against his head and repeatedly asked Mr Mifsud where Mr Bartolo was.

Mr Mifsud told the court he could hear the trigger being pulled.

According to Mr Mifsud, he had again been beaten repeatedly. At one stage he saw Mr Psaila returning to the interrogation room in a bad temper and starting striking him on his legs. Mr Mifsud said he had lost consciousness.

He woke up in a police cell and was in such pain that he could not eat. He was again taken to the room where he had been beaten in the presence of the two superintendents and of the late Deputy Police Commissioner Anthony Mifsud Tommasi.

The superintendents again beat him up but Mr Mifsud Tommasi told Mr Mifsud that, if he did not reveal Mr Bartolo's whereabouts, he would be taken to the lunatic asylum forever and would be killed or sent to prison.

Mr Mifsud told the court he had always protested his innocence while under arrest.

Two witnesses who had also been arrested corroborated Mr Mifsud's version of events.

Joseph Cassar, a prison warder, told the court he had heard Mr Mifsud cry in pain in his cell.

John Hughes said he had seen Mr Mifsud bare-chested sitting on a chair and could see red welts on his back.