The Constitutional Court today upheld an application by Norman Lowell who had complained that he was denied the right to appeal a conviction because of a procedural technicality.

Mr Lowell had wanted to appeal from a conviction of inciting racial hatred. He was arraigned in 2006 and two years later was condemned to a suspended jail term.

The Constitutional Court composed of Acting Chief Justice Geoffrey Valenzia, Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo and Justice Tonio Mallia found that although technically Mr Lowell had not followed the requirements laid down by the law, by not briefly indicating the facts of the case, the same facts were spread across the appeal application.

The Appeals Court also had before it the 117-page long judgement of the first court where all the facts and procedures were described, the Constitutional Court said.

Therefore the spirit of the law should prevail over the technicalities, as the facts resulted from the acts of court.

Mr Lowell could not be denied the right to appeal because of a technicality and the case needed to be decided on the basis of its merits.

The decision of the Appeals Court to throw out Mr Lowell's appeal was a breach of his rights, and the appeal should therefore be heard, the Constiuttional Court said.

Mr Lowell was ordered to pay all court costs since he was the once who had not briefly explained the facts of the case as required.

Mr Lowell last year complained about the time it was taking for the Constitutional Court to reach its decision. On September 6 he said that judgement had been pending for over a year but had been put off four times, without reason being given.