Two men who have been in court over alleged fraud on the importation of tomatoes since 2005 have won €5,000 in compensation after a judge found that unjustified delays breached their human right to justice within a reasonable time. 

Mr Justice Tonio Mallia, presiding over the First Hall of the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction found that the prosecution's procrastination in the case which it started investigating in 2003 was breaching the men's human rights. 

Stevedores Joseph Manuel Galea and Joseph Attard filed their complaint because very little progress was being registered in their case. 

They had been arrested in 2003 and eventually charged with fraud in 2005. The prosecution is alleging that they used to import tomatoes from abroad, probably from Sicily, and mix it with locally-grown tomatoes and sell it as local produce to be able to benefit from additional subsidies. 

The court noted that the prosecution's excuse that the case was "unlucky" was no justification. "It seems like the prosecution did not take the case seriously and it was only after the claim for compensation was filed that all the witnesses were summoned to testify in just one sitting. Before that, all calls by the court for the police to expedite the proceedings fell on deaf ears," Mr Justice Mallia. 

He noted that court sitting were often deferred for one reason or another, including failure to notify witnesses and the prosecution's failure to appear in court because of other work. "It is evident that the prosecution abandoned this case and made no effort to conclude its case in a reasonable time," the judge said. 

He said neither was it a justification that the prosecuting officer says that he had 400 cases to deal with. "It is the government's duty to ensure that the justice system could deal with every court case within the appropriate timeframe. It must furnish the resources, both human and financial and both within the Law Court and the police, for cases which are not so complicated do not remain pending for a long number of years," Mr Justice Mallia said in his decision. 

He therefore awarded the men €2,500 each on non-pecuniary compensation for the inconvenience they had suffered. 

Lawyers Mark Busuttil and Arthur Azzopardi appeared for the men.