A man who has been held behind bars since his arraignment in October in a domestic violence case, has filed a constitutional application claiming a breach of rights.

The applicant, whose name is not being published so as to safeguard the interests of his children, had been charged with having slightly injured his partner and causing her to fear violence.

Following the rejection of repeated requests for bail, during the last sitting in November, the proceedings were finally adjourned to January for the defence to put forward its evidence, after the closure of the evidence stage by the prosecution.

However, in a constitutional application filed on Wednesday, the man’s lawyers claimed that the absence of a legal disposition allowing the review of his continued detention constituted a breach of his fundamental rights.

The issue stemmed from the fact that whereas such review was accorded to the accused before a Court of Criminal Inquiry, the same could not be said when, as in this case, the proceedings were heard before a Court of Criminal Judicature.

A person facing a compilation of evidence had to be brought before the court every 15 days. Not so when being tried before a Court of criminal Judicature where one could be remanded in custody for a longer period.

Moreover, whereas the law granted the AG the right to request the review of bail and bail conditions, such a right was ‘completely inexistent’ with respect to the person facing prosecution before a court of criminal Judicature.

This landed the accused in a situation of inequality of arms, a lack of protection against arbitrary arrest or detention and a breach of his right to a fair hearing.

For this reason, the applicant requested the court to declare a breach of rights and to provide adequate and effective remedies accordingly.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Amadeus Cachia and Mario Mifsud signed the application.