Call for revision of stand on lawyer access

Human rights NGO Aditus has urged the government to revise its position on access to a lawyer and notification of custody to a third person in a statement that it issued following an EU pro- posal on the matter.

The proposal includes the compulsory presence of a lawyer at each step of the investigation where the presence of the suspect is required or authorised (for example in fingerprinting), even in minor cases.

Aditus said Malta’s position, as reported in newspapers, was that access to a lawyer would hamper criminal investigations and that this right would tip the balance in favour of the criminal suspects and not society.

The NGO said it wanted to draw the government’s attention to the increased effectiveness of criminal proceedings through a lawyer’s monitoring presence which resulted in the avoidance of mistrials, retrials and miscarriages of justice.

It added that in view of these heightened risks, a lawyer’s presence was a precious safeguard.

Reacting, lawyer and MP Franco Debono, who campaigned for the right to legal assistance prior to police interrogation, said more had to be done.

“Malta should continue to respect and abide by the jur-isprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and in that sense, the right to a lawyer must be strengthened,” he said. Access to a lawyer must be available during interrogation and the suspect must have access to the police file.

He added that “the Commission’s proposal seems to go farther than rulings by the European Court of Human Rights. Our yardstick should be the ECHR rulings”.