The government will grant an amnesty and protection to any person who has information of alleged abuses leading to the death of Nicholas Azzopardi and is prepared to give evidence under oath in court, the Prime Minister announced in Parliament this evening.

Father-of-two Nicholas Azzopardi died in hospital in April 2008, hours after claiming that, while under arrest, he was beaten up by two policemen who then threw him from a window at the back of police headquarters.

Two magisterial inquiries did not reveal any abuse by policemen.

The subject was raised in parliament by Labour MP Evarist Bartolo. He asked how many people had, in the past 10 years 'fallen' (his inverted commas) from the window and down the wall known as tal-klandestini, a height of three storeys. He also asked how many of these people were foreigners, how many died or were injured and how many were unhurt. He also asked what investigations were made.

Dr Gonzi replied that 13 persons were involved in incidents described by Mr Bartolo of whom 12 were foreigners.  Four were hurt and one died after several days in hospital.

A police investigation was made in all cases.

"In view of certain comments that have been made, including comments by Mr Bartolo, about the incident where a person died while in hospital, I want to reiterate that the Government has no interest other than to establish the truth," Dr Gonzi said.

"This was the purpose of the two inquiries that were held.

"I wish to declare once more that if anybody knows of any abuse regarding this case, the government will be ready to offer protection and an amnesty to whoever gives evidence under oath in court so that the truth may be revealed," Dr Gonzi said.