Court dismisses appeal of middleman in judges' bribery
The Constitutional Court yesterday dismissed an appeal filed by Anthony Grech Sant, one of the middlemen in the bribery of two former judges, from a judgment which had dismissed his claims of human rights violations. Mr Grech Sant had claimed the time...
The Constitutional Court yesterday dismissed an appeal filed by Anthony Grech Sant, one of the middlemen in the bribery of two former judges, from a judgment which had dismissed his claims of human rights violations.
Mr Grech Sant had claimed the time he spent under house arrest before conviction had not been taken into consideration for the computation of his prison sentence.
In July of last year, Mr Grech Sant was jailed for 20 months after he was found guilty of bribing his childhood friend, former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo, and former judge Patrick Vella in order to reduce the jail term of drug trafficker Mario Camilleri.
Mr Grech Sant filed a constitutional application against the Attorney General, arguing that the period he had spent under house arrest before the trial had not been deducted from his jail term. This, he said, was discriminatory as people in preventive custody had their prison sentence reduced accordingly.
He was released under house arrest in September 2002. The original conditions were very restrictive and the court eventually loosened them and he could even leave the house during certain hours. He was sentenced to three years in prison in October 2008 but this was reduced to 20 months on appeal last July.
The first court ruled that Mr Grech Sant had failed to show how he had been discriminated against and, therefore, the court dismissed his request.
Mr Grech Sant then lodged an appeal to the Constitutional Court composed of Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano, Mr Justice Joseph A Filletti and Mr Justice Geoffrey Valenzia.
The law, said the Constitutional Court, stipulated that time spent in preventive custody in the prisons was always to be deducted from a prison sentence. Mr Grech Sant wanted the time he had spent in house arrest to be similarly deducted from his sentence. But there was no comparison between house arrest and preventive custody in prison. There was, therefore, no element of discrimination against Mr Grech Sant, the court concluded.