I refer to the report of the judgement of the First Hall Civil Court in the names ‘Brain Vella v Onor. Prim Ministru et’ dated March 22, 2018 and published in The Sunday Times of Malta (March 25) under the heading ‘Double murderer can apply for punishment review, court rules’.

It is appropriate to set the record straight. The precise and identical issue decided in the above case had already been decided by the Constitutional Court composed of the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Giannino Demajo and Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri way back on November 7, 2016, in the case ‘Ben Hassine Ben Ali Wahid v Onor. Prim Ministru et’, which is therefore the landmark judgment on the matter.

The report in The Sunday Times of Malta actually makes a reference to the latter judgment without pointing out its significance, especially taking into account the content of the report. The judgment ‘Ben Hassine Ben Ali Wahid v Onor. Prim Ministru et’ is accessible online on the justice services website.

One could add that the above landmark judgment was followed by another decision in the same names and in the same case dated April 28, 2017, whereby the Constitutional Court ordered that the applicant be brought before the Parole Board to consider whether the further detention of the applicant was justified and to determine by a motivated decision whether the applicant should be released unconditionally and, if not, to lay down within what period there should be a reconsideration of the case.