A judge declared today that the human rights of convicted drug trafficker Mario Camilleri (l-Imniehru) were breached because of the Attorney General’s wide discretionary powers.

Mr Camilleri is currently awaiting trial by jury over alleged trafficking in heroin in 2007.

He filed a Constitutional application arguing that the right of the Attorney General to decide the maximum punishment he could face breached his human rights. Mr Camilleri argued that under Maltese law the Attorney General has complete discretion to decide in which court to try a drug trafficking case, and therefore the punishment bracket.

If an accused is tried in the Magistrates’ Court he faces a prison term ranging between six months and 10 years but, if tried in the Criminal Court, the term is between four years and life.

In the judgment, Madam Justice Anna Felice noted a previous judgment handed down by the the European Court of Human Rights, EHCR, which found that Maltese law does not provide any guidance on the matter and this is in breach of the right not to be punished without laws being in place.

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