Italian admits illegal fishing after plea agreement

Obviously a good way of resolving a messy case, but what is the legal basis for plea bargains?

Colin Camilleri...

Perhaps it has escaped your attention that the Maltese fishermen cooperatives were up in arms defending this Sicilian fisherman and attacking the authorities because of the measures taken.

I have not held back from criticising the authorities in the past, but sometimes it seems that they just can't win!

free movement of persons, goods and capital???

For every one interception there could be tens if not hundreds who manage to go unnoticed!! this results in huge damages to our local fishermen together with the maltese citizens who have then to pay extortionate prices for fish.
what's 35,000€ for this master who must have been doing this illegal fishing for ages? no one can convince me that this guy was caught red handed on his first attempt fishing in maltese waters. i would have confiscated the boat and negotiated with the italian government that the fishing licence is revoked. this should set an example and not get out with it lightly. For the Italians 35,000€ do not have the same value as to us maltese. This master must be laughing his wits off on us maltese ....... assuming that upon his return to Italy he will truly honour his committment and pay the fine.

Plea bargaining should be available to all accross the board, this will minimise lenghtly court and policed work in a cost effective manner

@Stephen Grech

Probably the Italian media will not cover this part of the story. This is both typical and unfortunate. An attestation to this is the manner in which the latest debacle over illegal immigrants was handled.

Prior to force re-dispatch back to Libya, which many correctly consider to be illegal, Malta was being accused by far-right opinionists of being selfish, of not upholding its international legal obligations and of opportunism in the face of EU funding for our responsibility over the SAR area. Typically, issues were, i would say, purposely confused in order to incite a gullible and ill-informed audience.

Now, any other issue which Maltese authorities may have with Italian citizens will be interpreted in the light of illeagal immigration in a feeble attempt to throw a bad light upon Malta. Naughty Malta, Poor Italy.

One question I have is this - How is it that our small island nation can so easily cause a much larger nation like Italy, to become its victim? The answer is pretty obvious - It can't. And on the world stage the continual griping and moaning by Italian minister Moroni (sic!) is becoming more irrelavant and risible by the minute.

Huh....what will Tg5 and Prima Pagina say now? .... and what about the mayor of Porto Palo di Capo Passero....what will he say now?