Norman Lowell, leader of the far-right Imperium Europa party, yesterday won the right to appeal his conviction for inciting racial hatred and insulting the President after his original appeal was thrown out on a technicality in April 2009.

In a judgment yesterday, three judges ruled that Mr Lowell’s fundamental human rights had been breached when the Court of Criminal Appeal threw out his appeal application because it was not correctly formatted.

Acting Chief Justice Geoffrey Valenzia, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo and Mr Justice Tonio Mallia said that, although Mr Lowell was incorrect in not including a short summary of the facts, the facts were available throughout the appeal application.

The fact that the appeals court threw the application out based on this technicality was a breach of his fundamental human rights and ordered that the appeal be heard.

Mr Lowell had been given a two-year jail term suspended for four years for speeches he had delivered in Rabat and Qawra in 2006. He had also been fined €500.

The case continues.

Lawyer Emmy Bezzina appeared for Mr Lowell.