Government to sue former policemen

The government intends to sue the police officers who tortured former prison warder Anthony Mifsud after it was forced to pay their share of compensation for their acts in 1982.

Last Thursday Mr Mifsud was finally paid €205,000 in compensation after a 28-year legal battle for the violence he suffered at the hands of the police, who forced him to make a false confession. He spent three years in prison as a result.

The courts capped the compensation owed by his aggressors - former Police Inspector Joseph Psaila, former Police Superintendent Carmelo Bonello and the Police Commissioner at the time, Lawrence Pullicino - to €25,000 and ordered the government to pay €161,000.

However, Mr Mifsud was forced to file a judicial protest two weeks ago after the government failed to pay any of the compensation due to him.

The government last Thursday settled the full amount, including that owed by the officers and the interest accrued since the judgment was delivered in 2008. However, it will now have to sue the aggressors to recover the money.

A spokesman for the Justice Ministry said: "The government has paid to Mr Mifsud the amount to which it was exposed in solidum, according to the judgment of September 18, 2009. Action at law may now be taken against the other parties for reimbursement of their share of the amount due and the necessary lawsuits will be filed in Court."

No criminal action was ever taken against the officers, nor were they even suspended from the force.

When contacted, lawyers said the government could have recovered the entire amount had it sued the officers earlier. However, it could now only successfully claim the amount it paid on behalf of the former policemen since civil action was time-barred.

"Had a civil case been instituted earlier, the government could have possibly claimed the entire sum from them," one lawyer explained.

Mr Mifsud had been wrongly charged with aiding and abetting the escape from prison of Louis Bartolo and Ahmed Khalil Habib in 1982 after being forced at gunpoint to sign a confession. A court declared him not guilty.

He had appealed against the original compensation judgment, claiming he was owed up to €1.2 million, but this worked against him in court and the Constitutional Court ordered him to pay 20 per cent of the court fees for asking for more than was due to him by law.