Last month, the Maltese ecclesiastical province issued a ‘Statement of policy and procedures in cases of sexual abuse’.

It is a step in the right direction indeed, although I have some reservations about it, one of which is the following.

The said document says that: “When the alleged abuser is requested to attend an interview, the alleged abuser will be advised that he/she may consult a lawyer before the interview but that he/she will attend such interview unaccompanied” (3.2 ‘Investigations into allegations’).

Here, the term ‘interview’ is to be understood as the legal term ‘interrogation’.

I am objecting to the fact that during this ‘interview’, that is, ‘interrogation’, by the investigator, the alleged perpetrator cannot have a lawyer with him. This is in breach of the alleged abuser’s right.

On April 11, 2011, in the case Police vs Alvin Privitera, the Constitutional Court had decided that the absence of a lawyer when a suspect is being interrogated constitutes a breach of article six of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The court also stated that “the absence of a lawyer during interrogation in the case under examination was and is in breach of the rights of the applicant as expressed in article six of the European Convention of Human Rights” (translated from Maltese).

Should the Church openly disregard such a human right?