I refer to the article ‘Disabled man claims he was beaten by police’ (September 7).

This complaint was received on April 24, 2015 and the Police Commissioner gave immediate instructions to the Internal Affairs Unit to investigate the allegations made.

Investigations by the Internal Affairs Unit commenced immediately and the complainant, Francis Piscopo, as well as a number of persons have already been spoken to.

Piscopo was spoken to at the police GHQ in the presence of his lawyer, where he made reference to three incidents involving the police, namely in 2001, 2007 and 2010.

It is also to be pointed out that the complainant was arraigned in relation to all mentioned incidents and was subsequently found guilty on all occasions. Besides, though he had the opportunity to complain before the presiding magistrates he never did so.

Notwithstanding, this complaint is being investigated and such investigations are still in progress.

Editorial note: As indicated in the item itself, the Times of Malta sent a request to both the Police Commissioner’s office and to the force’s media unit about the allegations (on September 3). The media unit replied on that date saying “please note that request is being processed” but there was no further communication before last Monday, when the item appeared and the police replied immediately.