A Nigerian inmate who is claiming his personal effects were stolen from Corradino Correctional Facility wants the prison director to pay him damages.

Joseph Feilazoo says several items were taken, including a belt, a pair of sunglasses, a bottle of perfume, two rings, three earrings and a pendant.

Yana Micallef Stafrace, chairing the Small Claims Tribunal, heard David Scerri testify that he checked Mr Feilazoo’s luggage that was kept storage at the prison. It was empty.

Mr Scerri said when a foreigner was imprisoned, any luggage would be kept in the store. In the luggage the prison authorities would leave glass items or belts with large buckles. Jewellery would be kept in the records office.

Mr Feilazoo, who in August 2008 was jailed for 12 years for importing drugs, last year filed a judicial protest claiming his belongings were taken from him upon entering the jail but he was not given a receipt. He said he later discovered some items were no longer in the possession of the prison authorities.

He asked for an investigation and wanted to file a police report, which he said the prison director only permitted him to do after he had been insisting for several months.

He also claimed that when he complained about the prison food in December 2013, he was “humiliated” by a full-body search, accused of being a ringleader and transferred into another division.

Mr Feilazoo was one of the foreign inmates who participated in two hunger strikes – in June and July 2013 – objecting to the conditions foreign inmates were subjected to.

Lawyer Larry Formosa is representing Mr Feilazoo.