One of the online comments about my letter Due Owner Of A Requisitioned Property (January 12), ran: “I sincerely wish you all the very best to win this injustice. Hopefully you have the money to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights...”.

If this person writing is right, and he may very well be, my family and I have very little hope of ever getting our property back. However, even though, I don’t have the money to take this matter to the Court of Human Rights, I was hoping that perhaps the government would reconsider the derequisition law and instead enact a new law under which these requisitioned properties are returned to their owners like the one that was ordered returned to the Montanaro Gauci family of Rabat by Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi.

The judge referred to the European Court’s declaration: “The deprivation of use of property for no other reason than to benefit a private individual could not be considered as being in the general interest” (Family To Be Evicted From Requisitioned Rabat House, December 11).

The European Court has on two occasions found against Malta in similar circumstances and yet, Malta continues to ignore these rulings. In Chigo vs Malta it had been concluded that the property owner’s rights were violated when he was deprived of his property for 22 years. In our case it has been 37 years to date. If the law is not changed soon, God knows how many more years it will be.

The government should observe Mr Justice Azzopardi’s ruling nationally. The requisition law was wrong then and it is wrong now. It has been 37 years since the government took this property away from us and we want it back. It does not matter which government was in power then, what matters is the government who is in power now must act. They are the ones who can overturn such an archaic and barbaric law. I ask the government to do what is right and correct such an injustice.

I would appreciate any feedback to mellieha@yahoo.com.