A Luqa man jailed in 2012 for having imprisoned women inside a farmhouse and forced them into prostitution has been denied bail while he awaits the verdict of a Constitutional case he has filed.

Raymond Mifsud, 50, had originally been imprisoned for 11 years but had this sentence reduced to four on appeal last February. His defence team had then filed a Constitutional case in May, alleging a breach of his fundamental human rights and asking that Mifsud be released from detention until this case was decided.

During Mr Mifsud's original trial, a court had heard how he would lure east European women to Malta by offering them restaurant work, only to then lock them up in a farmhouse and force them to work as prostitutes, with men paying €35 for sex. 

According to the original sentence handed down by (then) magistrate Giovanni Grixti, the sex trafficking ring, which included a policeman on its payroll, had been disrupted after a Russian girl managed to make a desperate phone call to her mother in 2004.

News reports from the time alleged that if girls refused to work as prostitutes, Mr Mifsud would offer them work in a strip club. If they also refused that option, he would allegedly sell them off to someone else for around €1,200.

Mr Mifsud had been assisted by his Russian partner, Tatiana Alkina, who herself had previously been convicted of running a brothel. She claimed to have also been sold to a third party.

Lawyers for Mr Mifsud have now asked the courts to release Mr Mifsud on bail while the outcome of his Constitutional case is decided. 

In a ruling delivered this morning, Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti noted that there was nothing to suggest that Mr Mifsud's release was an urgent one.

He noted that Mr Mifsud was alleging that his right to a fair hearing had been breached, that there was a “reasonable belief in a mistaken fact” as well as discrimination in the charges of trafficking an adult for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Mr Mifsud was also objecting to the manner in which his statement had been taken.

“These circumstances still need to be proven in the merits before this court. Until now, there are only allegations on the part of the applicants that these breaches led to his unjust conviction. The court has yet to examine these allegations in detail as the process is still at an early stage,” the judge said. 

Whilst it accepted the inclusion of the objection to the statement, the court turned down the request for Mifsud's release on bail.

Lawyers Tonio Azzopardi and Alfred Abela are counsel to Mr Mifsud.