Source remains unknown pending Whistleblower Act

Relatives of the late Nicholas Azzopardi have told the police they are willing to testify about claims of an intimate relationship between his wife and a disgraced former police officer who had interrogated him.

They have, however, insisted they will not reveal the source of the claims until the Whistleblower Act comes into force.

“The person who has come to us with this information must be guaranteed protection. As things stand, s/he fears for his/her life if the identity were to be revealed,” Mr Azzopardi’s brother Reno said after he and his father Joseph met with high-ranking police officers in Valletta yesterday.

Mr Azzopardi’s death in 2008 while in police custody prompted an uproar following claims, made on his deathbed, that police officers had beaten him before flinging him off a bastion.

The police have repeatedly denied such claims and said Mr Azzopardi jumped off the bastion while attempting to escape police custody. Two inquiries into the matter found in the police’s favour.

The magisterial inquiry into the incident has now been reopened on the Police Commissioner’s direct request after former Police Sergeant Adrian Lia was accused of theft amounting to over €30,000.

Mr Lia was one of the officers accompanying Mr Azzopardi before the incident. He is also the man Mr Azzopardi’s relatives claim was having an affair with Mr Azzopardi’s wife.

Reno Azzopardi said that according to his source, Mr Lia taunted his brother mid-interrogation, allegedly telling him he had repeatedly slept with his wife.

The source, Mr Azzopardi added, had been told the same thing by two different individuals within the police corps.

“We have complete trust in the police corps but there are always a couple of bad apples,” Mr Azzopardi said. “All we want is for the police to carefully revisit the evidence, speak to everyone involved and look at the case through new eyes.”

His father Joseph agreed. “There’s no point in reopening the inquiry if this new information is just going to be bolted on as an annex. Our source is proof the inform-ation is there.”