Parliament has approved in committee three amendments to the laws on criminal court procedures in what constitutes the first phase of the reform of the justice sector.

Parliamentary Secretary for Justice Owen Bonnici said this was the start of a long reform process, and a second package of amendments would be published shortly.

In terms of the amendments moved so far, an accused will be able to admit guilt during compilation of evidence in cases where the minimum punishment is four years in prison.

This should hopefully bring down the backlog of pending court cases. 1,400 compilations are started each year and the same amount is concluded. However, there was a backlog of 3,000.

PLEA BARGAINING

Dr Bonnici said the law was also  extending the concept of plea bargaining to all courts. Up to now, this was only possible in the criminal court. This, however, would not apply to minor cases.

The amendments also extend the whistleblower concept to any crime and enable whistleblowers to give evidence at any stage of the proceedings.

The amendments, Dr Bonnici said, also strengthen the rights of the arrested persons.

The police have to inform them of five rights, namely access to a lawyer, access to a legal aid, the right for information, the right for interpretation in their own language and the right to remain silent.

This particular clause will come into effect on June 4 to give police interrogators time to be trained.

All other amendments will come into force as soon as the bill becomes law.

The Parliamentary Secretary noted how some of the amendments were mentioned in the past by then Nationalist MP Franco Debono but no action was taken.

He said that once the government published the Bill, the Opposition showed maturity and cooperated fully without politicising the matter. It voted in favour of the amendments and made good suggestions.