Judgment was based on a hypothesis - defence counsel

Former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo, who has just spent 12 days in hospital, had to ask for a 10-minute break yesterday as he felt weak during appeal proceedings in court.

The request was made about an hour and 45 minutes into the appeal proceedings in which his lawyers, Joseph Giglio and Robert Abela, argued that the judgment, sentencing Dr Arrigo for two years and nine months for bribery, was not based on evidence but on a hypothesis.

Dr Arrigo was sent to jail by Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo last November for having reduced the jail term of drug trafficker Mario Camilleri, also known as L-Imnieħru, after receiving a bribe of about €11,650, exerting influence on other judges and revealing the details of a judgment before it was handed down. Dr Arrigo is being held at Mount Carmel Hospital due to a medical condition.

In a hot and stuffy court room yesterday, Dr Giglio said that Mr Justice Caruana Demajo had not based his judgment on evidence but, rather, on a hypothesis of what might have happened.

He said his client could not be found guilty of bribery because he accepted the money after he had reduced Mr Camilleri's jail term and not before.

This argument, in fact, was one of the central planks in the defence before Mr Justice Caruana Demajo.

Dr Giglio insisted that all the evidence pointed to the fact that Dr Arrigo had refused bribe money.

He noted that his client had even testified he would have written the judgment the same way 100 times over, if he had to, because, according to law, the prison term should have been reduced.

At this point, Dr Arrigo rose and asked the panel of judges - Mr Justice David Scicluna, Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri and Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon - to stop for a break, adding that he had been released from hospital following a 12-day stay only the day before.

As the sitting continued, Mr Justice Cuschieri asked one of three court ushers to change the direction of the flow of air emanating from the air conditioning unit.

The usher failed to do so and Dr Arrigo noted that "Anġlu" (his former court usher when he was Chief Justice) would know how to fix the problem.

Sure enough, the usher in question walked into the court room and switched off the air conditioning unit.

Dr Giglio rounded up his arguments and prosecutor Anthony Barbara, from the Attorney General's Office, is expected to make his rejoinder on March 4.