A man held under preventative arrest since June filed a judicial protest yesterday claiming a blatant breach of fundamental human rights.

Roderick Muscat, who stands charged with breaching the conditions of a previous release and being an accomplice in a crime committed during the operative period of a suspended jail term, was remanded in custody on June 8.

In the protest, Mr Muscat said the Attorney General objected to bail because of his criminal past and because he was untrustworthy, which he said, showed that the Attorney General was not applying even the basic concept of presumption of innocence.

After the prosecution closed its case on July 29, the magistrate put the case off for October 29 and, so far, three requests for bail and another for the case to be heard at an earlier date were rejected, he said. Since there was nothing restricting the magistrate from bringing the date forward or hearing the witnesses of the defence, Mr Muscat argued this was a clear breach of human rights.

Mr Muscat said he was holding the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner responsible for any damages.

Lawyers Marion Camilleri and Noel Cutajar signed the protest.