An AFM gunner with a 20-year long grievance over a missed promotion has filed a constitutional application claiming a breach of his right to a fair hearing.

He said this was the results of a complete shift in the interpretation of a legal provision.

Stephen Bartolo, 49, enlisted with the Armed Forces in 1987 as a gunner. Ten years later he filed proceedings before the Tribunal for the Investigation of Injustices, claiming that he had been unjustly denied a promotion.

However, his claim was adjudged as inadmissible on the grounds that he had failed to exhaust "available means of redress."

This effectively meant that he had to take his complaint to the Commanding Officer or Commander of the AFM who was to take "all necessary steps" to redress the matter.

Constitutional proceedings instituted by Mr Bartolo before the Maltese courts in 1999, had likewise been unsuccessful.

In his application before the First Hall, Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction, Mr Bartolo observed that after his case had been thrown out by the Tribunal, the non-exhaustion of available remedies plea was no longer raised either by the AFM Commander or ex officio by the Tribunal.

This complete change in the interpretation of the law went against the principle of legal certainty. This placed the applicant in the status of 'victim' whose right to a fair hearing, as safeguarded under the Constitution and the European Convention, had been breached.

For this reason, the applicant called upon the court to declare the violation of his fundamental right and to reinstate his plea to the status preceding the Tribunal's pronouncement in December 1997. Since the Injustices Tribunal is no longer functional, the applicant requested the court to indicate which forum should hear his grievance.

The application was signed by lawyers David Camilleri and Joseph Gatt.