Two men charged with football bribery are refusing to give samples of their voices, to match it with a recorded conversation, claiming their human rights would be breached.

Ronnie Mackay, 31, from Marsa and Chris Brincat, 27, from Floriana, stand charged with trying to bribe footballer Sunday Eboh last September 27.

The court heard that both men had approached Mr Eboh the day before a First Division match between Naxxar and Gżira, which ended 2-2.

Mr Brincat’s brother, Jermain, had phoned Mr Eboh and a meeting was then held between the footballer and the two accused (Jermain was not present).

Mr Eboh had secretly recorded the conversation in which the accused are heard discussing the bribe, evidence heard so far showed.

Police Inspector Melvyn Camilleri yesterday asked Magistrate Carol Peralta to appoint an expert to establish whether the voices in the recording belonged to the accused.

However, defence lawyers Veronique Dalli and Franco Debono strongly insisted that such a move would breach their client’s human rights.

They argued that while the law allowed the matching of finger prints, there was not such provision for voice recordings.

This meant that if the request by the prosecution for them to speak (to match their voices with the recording) was accepted by the court it would impinge on their right to remain silent.

The magistrate admitted he found the matter very intriguing and asked them to make submissions in writing.

The case continues.

Lawyer Dean Hili also appeared for the accused.