A Dutch national has been awarded €5,000 in damages after a court found that his fundamental human rights had been violated due to the excessive delay in concluding the criminal proceedings against him.

Samuel Onyeabor filed his constitutional application against the Attorney General in the First Hall of the Civil Court presided over by Mr Justice Tonio Mallia.

He said he was arraigned before the Magistrates' Court in 2008 on charges of possession and trafficking of drugs and that the compilation proceedings had not yet been concluded. This, Mr Onyeabor said, was a violation of his right to a fair trial within a reasonable time.

He added that he had been denied bail for 22 months which was an excessively long period of time and that he had not been allowed to return to the Netherlands to undergo surgery.

Mr Justice Mallia said that the case against Mr Onyeabor was a complex one involving charges of importation of six kilos of cocaine and the arrest of five other foreigners who were allegedly involved in an international drug trafficking circle.

But the court found that the lapse of six years from Mr Onyeabor's arrest until the date he filed his Constitutional application was excessive, particularly as the compilation proceedings had not yet been concluded. Six years was a long time in a person's life, said the court. The fact that he had been denied bail for 22 months was also tantamount to an excessive delay.

Criminal cases, said the court, generally required more urgency than civil ones as the liberty of an individual was at stake.

However, the court found no violation of Mr Onyeabor's rights by the fact that he had not been allowed to return to the Netherlands for surgery. Mr Onyeabor had been granted access to doctors in Malta and it was confirmed that the surgery could in fact be carried out locally.

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