Former prison guard Anthony Mifsud, who was tortured by the police in 1982 after being wrongfully blamed for a prison escape, will receive €186,000 in compensation after the Police Commissioner did not appeal a Civil Court judgement which established the amount of damages which was to be paid.
Three other police officers who were involved in the case had their portion of compensation capped at €50,000 by the Constitutional Court today.
Mr Mifsud, who was in his 20s at the time, had been arrested, tortured and charged with corruption and complicity in the escape of two prisoners: Louis Bartolo and Ahmed Khalil Habib.
After three years in prison he was found not guilty in a trial by jury.
Mr Mifsud filed a compensation suit against Police Inspector Joseph Psaila, former Police Superintendent Carmelo Bonello, former Police Commissioner Lawrence Pullicino and the present Police Commissioner representing the State, 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 First Hall of the Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Ray Pace, had established the compensation at €186,350 and ordered all four officers to pay the sum equally between them.
The two police officers were held responsible for beating Mr Mifsud while Dr Pullicino was held responsible for failing to stop the torture.
Mr Mifsud appealed the judgement asking the court to increase the compensation. He asked for €1.16 million (Lm500,000).
Dr Pullicino, Mr Psaila and Mr Bonello appealed on various counts, mainly asking the court to find them not responsible for the case and reduce the compensation they were being forced to pay.
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.
The court also said that although Dr Pullicino was overseas when Mr Mifsud was arrested, he had returned while he (Mr Mifsud) 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.
Mr Psaila and Mr Bonello were found to have abusively treated Mr Mifsud and beaten him.
The Constitutional Court, presided over by Acting Chief Justice Joseph Camilleri, Mr Justice Geoffrey Valenzia and Mr Justice Tonio Mallia upheld their claims on how the compensation were to be paid but ordered the Police Commissioner - the only party not to appeal the compensation judgement - to pay the whole amount.
At the same time it capped the compensation they had to pay at €50,000 between the four parties. It divided the responsibility of payment to 50 per cent for the Police Commissioner, 20 per cent has to be paid by Dr Pullicino, and 15 per cent each by Mr Psaila and Mr Bonello.