Judge Joseph Filletti has been nominated by the government to serve the remaining two years of office in the EU’s General Court instead of Madam Justice Ena Cremona.

Madam Justice Cremona’s term of office expires on August 31, 2013 but she will retire on September 15. Judges are appointed for a term of office of six years, which is renewable.

Following the government’s nomination, a panel will give an opinion on the candidate’s suitability to perform the duties of judge of the EU General Court. Once the panel delivers a favourable opinion on the candidate’s suitability, a conference of the representatives of member states will be convened to adopt the decision.­ Judge Filletti, who spent seven years as a lawyer, five as a magistrate and 27 as a judge, retired in February.

The multilingual judge – he speaks Maltese, English, French, Italian and Chinese – had given a landmark judgment 30 years ago in which he ruled that the police could not re-arrest a person moments after being released from 48 hours of detention but had to effectively be released for a period of time before being arrested again.

In 2002, he was interrogated by the police after they discovered evidence that disgraced Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and former judge Patrick Vella were bribed in connection with an appeal judgment, an experience he had described as “traumatic”. Judge Filletti was part of the panel but was not implicated.