Allegations that a foreign prisoner at Mount Carmel was not being given the medical attention he required were today denied by a court-appointed doctor.

Defence lawyer Emmy Bezzina said that his client Alain Schmitt, a French spiritual leader, was not in a healthy state and could not understand what was going on.

Mr Schmitt had been unable to see for the past 15 days and hospital officials had drawn attention to the fact that he needed special glasses to see because of his 95 per cent sight impairment.

Dr Bezzina claimed that the Forensic Unit at the hospital had forgotten to given him insulin to treat his diabetes for three times, he was being given a bad diet, he was not getting any physical exercise and he was very disorientated.

Taking the witness stand, Dr Scerri denied the allegations and said that while examining the patient, he had admitted that he had gone on a hunger strike and that he tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of insulin.

Mr Schmitt, he said, had micro haemorrhages in his right eye as a result of his diabetes and laser surgery he had received for his eyesight.

Dr Bezzina had earlier in the case alleged that Mr Schmitt had a large diabetes wound on one of his legs.

But Dr Scerri said that he examined and photographed “the wound” which turned out to be a bunion.

He said that Mr Schmitt’s blood glucose levels were regularly treated with insulin, he responded coherently and was very balanced and oriented when he spoke to him. He did walk a little slow but that was because he could not see.

Dr Scerri said that Mr Schmitt’s diabetes was not adequately controlled and he recommended a diabetic consultation, which was very common.

He said that taking into consideration Mr Schmitt’s death wish, he would not leave him alone in his cell with either insulin or glass objects.

Dr Scerri said it was not true that the authorities had forgotten to give him insulin.

Dr Bezzina also objected that his client was not notified of today’s court case according to law.

He said that according to law the notification had to be sent to his home even though he had been notified in court.

But the head of the international unit at the AG’s office, Donnatella Frendo Dimech, said that the law stated very clearly that a notification should be given to the person concerned and when this was not possible, it should be sent to his usual residence. In this case, the usual residence of the accused was the Corradino Correctional Facility.

Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna ruled that according to law Mr Schmitt had been notified.

Dealing with the merits of the case, Dr Frendo Dimech said that there was a conviction for both Mr Schmitt and his girlfriend Laurence Liegeois.

Dr Bezzina said this was all an invention of France because the country had an obsession with sects. He asked the court for permission for his clients to wed in a registry office under a police escort.

Dr Frendo Dimech, in a light-hearted moment, offered to be a flower girl after Dr Bezzina had said that he would be the best man in the wedding.