A Maltese man who was sentenced to jail in Italy and is serving time at Corradino yesterday demanded to be released because he had received a pardon.

Carmelo Butler, who was jailed for 22 years after he was found guilty of human smuggling and murder, served the large part of the sentence in Ragusa and Messina in Sicily before being sent to Malta last June, his lawyer, Edward Gatt, said.

The Italian Ministry of Justice had subsequently issued a pardon and when taking that into consideration, together with remission time, Mr Butler should be out of prison, the lawyer submitted in a judicial protest.

Dr Gatt said that when asked to set Mr Butler free, the director of prisons, Police Superintendent Abraham Zammit, brushed off responsibility and claimed he had received no notification from the Italian authorities.

The lawyer said he tried to communicate with the Maltese Embassy in Rome to have the documents sent over but no response was forthcoming.

He called on the authorities to take note of the situation and to cut the red tape that was keeping his client needlessly in prison.

He said the Prime Minister, the Police Commissioner and Mr Zammit were being held responsible.