Lawyers for the two judges charged with bribery yesterday claimed statements made by Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami had touched off a media frenzy and breached their fundamental human right to a fair trial.

The lawyers called on the Magistrates' Court to refer their complaint to the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction and to stay the proceedings until such time as the Civil Court gave a ruling on the matter.

The legal team put the blame squarely on the prime minister, saying the media had taken the cue from the prime minister's tone, and branded the judges guilty without awaiting the outcome of due process.

"They turned the principle of the presumption of innocence right upside down and one article is actually headed 'The presumption of guilt' which reflects perfectly well the state of affairs in this country," Dr Toni Abela said.

Former chief justice Noel Arrigo, 52, of Siggiewi and Judge Patrick Vella, 58, of San Pawl tat-Targa, are pleading not guilty to two counts of bribery and one of revealing official secrets in relation to a sentence handed down by the Court of Criminal Appeal against Mario Camilleri on July 5.

The charges are aggravated by the fact that they were public officers duty bound to prevent crime.

Dr George Abela, for Judge Arrigo, pinpointed the exact words with which the prime minister had set the tone of the news conference called on August 1 to announce that two judges were being questioned by the police.

The offending sentences are: "Days before the appeal judgment was handed down, it was learnt that Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and Mr Justice Patrick Vella had been approached on behalf of the defendant (and asked) to reduce the jail term by four years, from 16 years to 12 years, and that these two judges were promised thousands of pounds each."

And "After the judgment was delivered, it resulted that money had been paid to the two judges mentioned."

Dr Abela said the prime minister's declaration had encouraged the public to consider the defendants guilty and this was clear from certain reports and comment pieces in the media which also breached the judges' right to be believed innocent until proven guilty.

The two lawyers exhibited numerous press cuttings plus two press statements released by the Department of Information, one about the prime minister's news conference on August 1 "at which, in the most arbitrary and unilateral manner, he decided their guilt" and another giving notice of a motion for impeachment filed against the judges "in clear breach of the law which obliges the speaker to ensure that the motion is not made public".

Dr Abela pointed out that Judge Vella was still being questioned when the prime minister called his news conference. He said the media had picked up where the prime minister had left off and was now "imputing guilt with the authorities' passive assistance in a manner which made it clear that there could never be a fair trial..."

The lawyers made their request under section 46 (3) of the constitution which lays down that:

"If, in any proceedings in any court other than the Civil Court, First Hall, or the Constitutional Court, any question arises as to the contravention of any of the provisions of the said articles 33 to 45 (inclusive), that court shall refer the question to the Civil Court, First Hall, unless in its opinion the raising of the question is merely frivolous or vexatious..."

But Attorney General Dr Anthony Borg Barthet called on Magistrate Tonio Micallef Trigona to dismiss the complaint as frivolous and vexatious.

He said the prime minister's statement had been necessary, in the circumstances, to put the people's mind at rest that the government was not trying to put some kind of pressure on the judiciary by arresting two members of the bench without just cause.

The statement did not prejudice the case in any way and was simply a succinct account of what had resulted thus far. The prime minister had been so careful as to invite the public to await the outcome of the investigation according to law.

He said there was no doubt that a case like this would generate media interest and would be covered extensively. Dr Borg Barthet said the request by the defence could only be translated as a request for immunity from criminal law for members of the judiciary since any criminal charge against them would generate a lot of interest.

The Attorney General said the media, in its entirety, was equitable in its reporting and, save for some exceptions, had been careful to report the facts as alleged and commented only about what would happen if they were proven.

Dr Borg Barthet pointed out that even the judges had felt the need to address the media when they handed their resignation.

In any case, newspaper reports could not be expected to influence the magistrate hearing the case whose competence was limited to a declaration of whether there were enough grounds for indictment.

The attorney general said the complaint was not only frivolous and vexatious but also untimely because case-law on breaches of human rights showed that an investigation of claim of breach of human rights would take into consideration the proceedings in their entirety and a few minor incidents could not be said to mar the whole proceedings.

On the statement announcing the motion for impeachment, Dr Borg Barthet said the section of the law cited by Dr Toni Abela was binding only on the Speaker of the House of Representatives and not the Members of Parliament moving the motion or the persons who were the subject of the motion.

The attorney general also argued that if the magistrate felt he should refer the matter to the Civil Court, he should still continue hearing the compilation of evidence and not stay the proceedings.

In reply, both Dr George Abela and Dr Toni Abela reiterated that they were not saying that the case did not merit a certain amount of attention from the media but that the media had to be careful not to overstep the mark.

Magistrate Micallef Trigona then put the case off to Monday for a ruling on the matter.

Deputy Attorney General Silvio Camilleri, Police Commissioner John Rizzo, Deputy Commissioner Joseph Cachia, Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar and Superintendent Pierre Calleja are prosecuting.

Dr Joseph Giglio and Dr George Abela represented Judge Arrigo while Dr Toni Abela, Dr Michael Sciriha and Dr George Cutajar represented Judge Vella.