A former Armed Forces of Malta gunner was yesterday awarded €4,000 in compensation for exaggerated delays in a drug trafficking case in which he was eventually acquitted.
Anthony Portelli, 37, from Buġibba, was arraigned on August 15, 1997 and charged with trafficking in 90 ecstasy pills.
He was found guilty nine years later and given a two-year jail term suspended for four year and fined €4,600. However, he was eventually acquitted on appeal in December 2006. He eventually filed a constitutional case, claiming breach of his human rights due the exaggerated time it took for justice to be done
In the appeal, his lawyer, Roberto Montalto, noted that the prosecution had taken nine months and 14 days to close its case but then nothing happened for seven years.
Madam Justice Anna Felice upheld the argument, ruling that the exaggerated duration of the case was a breach of Mr Portelli’s fundamental human rights.