Just hours before speaking in Parliament about shortcomings in the justice system, Nationalist MP Franco Debono sustained a light knee injury when a chair he was leaning on in a courtroom collapsed.

The Nationalist backbencher, a criminal lawyer, has often complained about problems in the justice and home affairs sectors, among other things.

Dr Debono has also hit out at Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici who, until the first week of January, was also responsible for justice.

Last November, he presented a motion in Parliament calling for a reform in justice and home affairs.

Defending a client, charged with fraud, before Magistrate Anthony Vella yesterday morning, Dr Debono was standing up, making his submissions, when he rested one foot on a wooden chair.

The green seat, which turned out to be broken, collapsed and Dr Debono fell on one knee, injuring himself slightly.

As he stood up saying he was in pain, he was quick to point out that this was a clear example of the bad state of the law courts, where the chairs had not been maintained in decades.

People in the courtroom commented he should not have leaned against it. He pointed out that,had he sat on the chair, he would have fallen.

“Perhaps I should sue the Justice Minister,” he joked, adding he would mention the accident in the parliamentary debate on an opposition motion to censure Dr Mifsud Bonnici.

In a serious tone, Dr Debono said: “If it weren’t so sad (the situation in court), this would be funny.”