Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco has appealed a Constitutional Court judgment which held that the judiciary watchdog had not breached his rights when it ruled there was no need to re-evaluate a fresh impeachment motion presented against him after the general election.

The commission had ruled that there was prima facie evidence of misbehaviour by Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco after he defied its calls to resign as president of the Malta Olympic Committee.

The judge, who has been probed by the Commission for the Administration of Justice since 2005, is due to retire in two months. The appeal could take weeks to be concluded and the judge celebrates his 65th birthday in August, when, by law, he will have to retire.

He filed the appeal on the very last day permitted by law, in an attempt to overturn a decision by Madam Justice Lorraine Schembri Orland who decided earlier this month that there was no breach when the Commission for the Administration of Justice ruled that nothing had changed from the first impeachment motion against the judge – presented before the election by then prime minister Lawrence Gonzi.