Murder suspect in Caruana Galizia assassination challenges pre-trial detention
The courts’ continued refusal to grant bail to Jamie Vella, charged in relation to the murders of journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, and lawyer, Carmel Chircop, was breaching his fundamental rights, his lawyer told a judge on Friday morning.
He warned that he had “a lot to say” about what he described as the politics behind the Police Commissioner’s 2021 claim that “every person involved” in the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia had been apprehended and charged.
Lawyer, Ishmael Psaila, made submissions to Madam Justice Edwina Grima on Friday, about his client Jamie Vella’s eleventh bail application.
Vella has spent the last three and a half years in preventive custody, accused, as an alleged associate of the Tal-Maksar brothers, Robert and Adrian Agius, of involvement in the murder of journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, in October 2017, besides also being charged, alongside George Degiorgio and Adrian Agius, of involvement in the murder of lawyer, Carmel Chircop, who was gunned down inside a Birkirkara garage complex in October 2015.
The argument was raised on Friday as Madam Justice Edwina Grima dealt with pre-trial pleas in the criminal proceedings against Vella, George Degiorgio and the tal-Maksar brothers, Adrian and Robert Agius.
Lawyer Ishmael Psaila, appearing for Jamie Vella, made submissions on his latest bail request after the other defendants were taken out of the courtroom, at the end of an otherwise uneventful sitting.
Psaila insisted that there were no legal impediments to Vella being released on bail, with the magisterial inquiry now closed and witness testimony preserved in the compilation of evidence.
“It is not the first time that our courts have dealt with such crimes”, said the lawyer, warning that further delays in granting Vella bail would be a violation of his fundamental rights.
The Attorney General had, in the past, given various arguments as to why he should not be released from arrest, Psaila said, before adding, “but today it is public knowledge that the case has been concluded and the Commissioner of Police had told a press conference that all the people involved [in the Caruana Galizia murder] have been arrested.”
“Now if there was a political aspect to this claim, I will not say for now, but I will have a lot to say about this in future”, said the lawyer.
Prosecutor Anthony Vella from the Office of the Attorney General made his counter-arguments.
“Here we have an indictment for two murders, as well as for participation and promotion of a criminal organisation. These all create public order problems and the court cannot simply grant bail”, said the prosecutor, reminding the court that Caruana Galizia’s murder had caused widespread fear in the country, which had in turn led to “an element of public disorder.”
Psaila replied that Vella had been on police bail for a long time before his arraignment, noting that the prosecution had made no mention of a criminal record for
Jamie Vella, “whom the media has portrayed as a monster. Where does the fear of absconding emerge from?”
“Do you think police bail would not have been enough warning for him to get on the first powerboat he could find and escape to another country? He wasn’t arrested on a yacht … he was arrested at home. This argument is frivolous”, Psaila remarked. “The problem in this case is not really the crime itself, but that this country ended up grinding to a halt by pressure from outside this courtroom - and I will bear this responsibility for saying this myself - because of who one of the people killed was.”
Judge Edwina Grima informed the parties that she will be issuing a decree on the bail request from chambers.