A convicted drug trafficker complained to the European Court of Human Rights that the magistrate who conducted the inquiry in his case had also presided over the compilation of evidence.

That, he argued, amounted to a breach of his fundamental rights. Mario Borg had been jailed for 21 years and fined €70,000 after he was found guilty of drug trafficking in a trial by jury.

What happened violated Mr Borg’s right to a fair and impartial hearing, lawyers Franco Debono, David Camilleri, Marion Camilleri and David Gatt pleaded in their application.

They also argued their client had not been given the right to a lawyer during the investigations, which, again, breached his rights.

The same group has already filed a similar application in which they said the Constitutional Court was handing down conflicting judgments on the right to a lawyer during investigations.

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