The Civil Court has ruled that the fundamental rights of a minor were violated when a lawyer was not present when he was interrogated by the police.

Judgement was delivered by Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi after the case was referred to the Civil Court by the Magistrates' Court at the request of defence counsel Franco Debono.

Dr Debono asked the court to rule whether the minor's fundamental rights were violated when he made a statement to the police while under arrest and without assistance by a lawyer.

The Commissioner of Police had denied that any rights were violated. He said the statement was given to the police voluntarily and the suspect had been told by the police that he could choose not to make any statement.

Furthermore, the European Court had ruled that the absence of a lawyer during interrogation would be considered as a breach of rights only if there was no fair hearing in criminal proceedings. In this case, it was clear that the proceedings were fair.

The lower court in its considerations noted that the minor had been arraigned in November 2009 and accused of drug possession but the only evidence the prosecution had was the police statement.

The court made reference to judgements abroad and said this was a case which needed to be considered under article 6 of the Convention of Human Rights and the Constitution of Malta.

The Civil Court said that the fact, on its own, that a person was not assisted by a lawyer during interrogation did not constitute a violation of fundamental rights and the judicial process had to be considered as a whole.

In this case, however, there were two important factors. The first was that the person under interrogation was a minor, and, secondly, that the prosecution's only evidence was the statement given to the police.

It was true that the accused had not claimed that he was mistreated during interrogation, but this was not a case which involved a person who was used to police questioning, but a 17-year-old boy who was under arrest for the first time.

In such a situation, it was likely that he felt intimidated by the very presence of a number of policemen in unfamiliar surroundings.

It was not fair that such persons were interrogated, even in a delicate manner , without assistance.

The court therefore agreed that the accused had suffered a violation of his fundamental human rights.

The accused was also assisted by Dr Marion Camilleri.