Former Police Commissioner Lawrence Pullicino, who on Thursday was held responsible by a judge of failing to stop the torture of prison guard Anthony Mifsud in the early 1980s, said he will be appealing the judgment.

Dr Pullicino was held partly responsible for the inhuman and degrading treatment suffered by Mr Mifsud when he was tortured and mercilessly beaten up by two former police superintendents in 1982.

Mr Mifsud was wrongfully charged over the 1982 prison escape of Louis Bartolo and Ahmed Khalil Habib.

In his 20s at the time, he was arrested, tortured and wrongfully charged with corruption and complicity in the notorious escape after a "confession" he made under interrogation with a gun being pointed at his head by one of the police officers.

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

The two superintendents, Carmelo Bonello and Joseph Psaila, together with Dr Pullicino and the Police force were ordered to pay €186,349 in compensation to Mr Mifsud in a judgment handed down by Mr Justice Raymond Pace on Thursday.

While the judgement pointed out that Dr Pullicino had been abroad when Mr Mifsud was under interrogation, the court still found him indirectly responsible for failing to stop the man's torture when he returned.

In a statement to the media, Dr Pullicino pointed out that the court did not refer to the evidence given by Mr Mifsud under cross-examination when he said that while he was arrested at the depot he had never seen or spoken to Dr Pullicino.

On top of that, he stressed that as Police Commissioner he had to rely on what was reported to him and could not get involved in things personally. It would actually be wrong if the Police Commissioner got involved in other officers' work to the point of practically running investigations personally.

Dr Pullicino pointed out that at the time of the investigation the late Deputy Police Commissioner Anthony Mifsud Tommasi, "a man of integrity who, I had no doubt, knew how things should be done", was heading the investigations.

"The person investigating the case was responsible enough and had the necessary experience for me not to harbour any doubts that he knew what he was doing and that he knew how to make sure that what he was doing should be done."

He also said that while investigations were going on he was busy for several days in the search for the two escaped prisoners, which escape had caused an outcry.

In spite of this, he complained, the court had placed the blame on him in "a couple of paragraphs" and without going into the detail one would expect from a case of the sort, stressing that he denies any responsibility.

The judgment was welcomed by the Nationalist Party, which said that justice was finally done. Mr Mifsud had been the victim of a frame-up at the time when the Labour Administration was working hand in hand with the police force, the PN said, pointing out that it was not the only case of a frame-up that had taken place at the time.