An Appeals Court this morning threw out an appeal filed by Mafia boss Sebastiano Brunno over an order for his extradition.
Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi turned down all the complaints Mr Brunno raised in his appeal - primarily that the Italian authorities’ request was based on wrong information and should have never been accepted by the first court.
In December, a court upheld to a request by the Italian authorities who want Mr Brunno, 56, back in his homeland to serve the life sentence he received over a 1992 murder.
He was arrested in Buġibba on October 2, five years after the Sicilian police mounted an extensive hunt for him. He is known as the head of the Nardo Cosca, a branch of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.
The arrest followed an international investigation coordinated by the Catania anti-Mafia unit with the Maltese CID and Drug Squad.
The proceedings began after the Catania authorities had written to their Maltese counterparts that Mr Brunno was wanted to serve time in jail over the murder of Agnello Nicolo.
The Italian authorities had previously said they also wanted Mr Brunno over an attempted murder in September that year, but the conviction on this crime had been overturned at appeal stage.
Magistrate Aaron Bugeja said this mistake in the request did not change its substance and that the judgment handed down by the Sicilian court and confirmed on appeal proved that Mr Brunno had not served time in jail over the murder.
Mr Brunno’s defence lawyer, Roberto Montalto, argued that the request for his client’s extradition was null because it contained a crime that he had not committed.
Dr Montalto further argued that even the go-ahead given by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici for the extradition proceedings to be heard was based on incorrect documents which had been passed on to the Maltese authorities by the Italian embassy on behalf of the Italian authorities.
But Mr Justice Mizzi threw out all these arguments, saying the mistake changed nothing in the substance of the request.
This latest ruling paves the way for Mr Brunno’s extradition.
Deputy Attorney General Donatella Frendo Dimech appeared for the prosecution.