Legal aid lawyers are paid by the prosecution, a court heard this morning during the Daniel Holmes Constitutional Case on human rights breach.

In a case against the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police, the Director General of the Gozo Courts and the Registrar of the Criminal Courts, Mr Holmes, the Welshman jailed for 10-and-a-half years for cultivating cannabis, is insisting that his human rights were breached on at least four instances during his case.

Judgement is set for July 15 after Mr Justice Anthony Ellul set a whole morning today to hear witnesses called by lawyers Franco Debono and Michela Spiteri to sustain their argument.

The prison term of Mr Holmes, 35, had been confirmed on appeal, incensing many who felt the punishment was too harsh.

One of the points Mr Holmes raised in the Constitutional case was that although he was helped by a legal aid lawyer during the investigations, he still did not receive an adequate defence as he had no choice of lawyer.

The system, he said, worked on a roster basis so a team of 10 legal aid lawyers would not be given cases according to their specialisation but rather to who was next in line.

Taking the witness stand, Gozitan legal aid lawyer Kevin Mompalao, who represented Mr Holmes as legal aid for a year, confirmed that this was the system used.

Criminal Courts director Joseph Sacco confirmed that lawyers are not chosen by the courts to sit on a particular case. Payments, he said, were made by the Attorney General’s Office.

Dr Debono remarked how could a lawyer who was supposed to be representing the accused be paid by the prosecution.

Adrian Tonna, from the Attorney Generals Office confirmed Mr Sacco’s claims and said that lawyers were appointed by the Justice Ministry.

The office received a list of the appointed lawyers every three months and issued a flat rate of some €2,300 a year for each, irrelevant of the number of cases they had.