A recent ruling that cleared a man of drug trafficking because he was not granted access to a lawyer before his interrogation is not a blanket decision that covers all cases, according to Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici.

Asked if he was worried the ruling would result in more people walking out scot-free, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said each case had to be seen on an individual basis by the presiding judge/magistrate who, after taking into consideration all circumstances of the specific case, should decide accordingly.

The ruling by recentlyappointed Magistrate Marseann Farrugia last week followed a decision by the Constitutional Court in April, which concluded that Alvin Privitera’s rights had been breached when the police questioned him and later took his statement without giving him access to a lawyer.

In his statement, Mr Privitera, aged 18 at the time, had admitted to the crime.

He had been subjected to a strip search at his home in the presence of a number of police officers, a situation, he claimed, had a bearing on his statement.

After declaring a breach of human rights in Mr Privitera’s case, the Constitutional Court sent the case back to the Magistrates’ Court to come up with a remedy.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici noted that the most important aspect was when the court was asked to rule on a suspect’s lack of access to a lawyer prior to interrogation.

The provision granting a suspect the right to speak to his lawyer for up to one hour before the police start their interrogation had formed part of wide ranging legal changes enacted by Parliament in 2002 but was not activated until February last year.

The decision brought Malta in line with judgments delivered by the European Court of Human Rights, which on more than one occasion decreed that denying an arrested person the right to see his lawyer was in breach of the fundamental right to a fair trial.

“This is the normal development of a country’s jurisprudence and, in this case, a development that happened on the European front two years ago and now in Malta too.

“There are countries that still do not have the 48-hour arrest period that we have in our system,” Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.

Asked whether suspects could claim compensation for what was now being considered to be a breach of human rights, Dr Mifsud Bonnici was noncommittal, saying he would not be drawn into speculation.

“This is not up to me to decide or speculate on but up to the person’s lawyer to give his client sound advice and then up to the presiding judge to decide on the case,” he said.