Magistrate ‘followed wrong procedure’ in extradition case

In a rare move, prosecution and defence lawyers yesterday agreed a magistrate failed to follow the right procedure when she ordered a Sicilian man with links to the Mafia to be held in custody without first being registered by the court.

As a result, Salvatore Stefano Rizzotto, 38, of Syracuse, who was facing a European arrest warrant, was being held illegally in prison, his defence lawyer, Anġlu Farrugia, argued.

Both Dr Farrugia and prosecuting lawyer Donnatella Frendo Dimech, from the Attorney General’s Office, told the court that during an initial hearing on extradition proceedings last Tuesday, Magistrate Audrey Demicoli had steamed ahead and ignored an attempt to get her to follow the right procedure.

Dr Farrugia called on Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna to release his client immediately as he should not have to pay for the mistakes of the authorities. The proceedings, he submitted, were null. His client, he held, had not even been registered by the courts so, on paper, the proceedings were a total mess.

Dr Frendo Dimech said she had tried to draw the court’s attention to the fact that there was a special set of laws covering extradition proceedings but she was warned not to dictate to the magistrate how to follow the law and ordered to be quiet.

She said that upon Mr Rizzotto’s release, as requested by the defence, the accused would be immediately re-arrested. He could then be arraigned again without even having left the court house.

Magistrate Apap Bologna is expected to decide on the case this morning.

Mr Rizzotto is wanted by the authorities in Palermo for alleged drug trafficking.