The Government said today exaggerated delays in court procedures were completely unacceptable.

In a statement this afternoon, the Justice Parliamentary Secretariat referred to a court judgment given two days ago which saw a man who stands accused of association to import and traffic heroin awarded €6,000 in compensation after a court found that his proceedings in court had been unjustifiably prolonged, in violation of his human rights.

Joseph Lebrun was arraigned in 2005 and accused of association to import and traffic seven kilograms of heroin. He is pleading not guilty.

The Government said it could not tolerate such a situation, especially when the country was doing its best to be the best in Europe. It believed that this case was not isolated, but one of a series of things that were not working well in the penal procedures, leading to people's right to a fair hearing being breached.

The Government clarified that it was not pointing fingers at any member of the judiciary who it believed all had the fair administration of justice at heart. However, it was pointing fingers at the structure, which needed to be overhauled.

The Government noted that in April, it set up  a Commission for Holistic Reform in the Justice Sector led by former European Court of Human Rights judge Giovanni Bonello, which had issued two documents for discussion and was expected to come up with a final report in October.