€3,500 awarded to a man as compensation for breach of his fundamental rights were reduced to €800 today after a Constitutional Court ruled that six years did not amount to excessive delay. In January, Malcolm Said was awarded €3,500 after a court ruled that his fundamental rights were breached when he was denied legal assistance during interrogation. He had been arrested in 2008 on suspicion of cocaine possession. During interrogation, the accused had given a statement admitting to occasional cocaine use. At the time, the right of a suspect to consult with a lawyer during interrogation had not yet been enshrined in Maltese law. Consequently, the accused had released his statement unaided. His complaint before the Constitutional Court was based on the grounds that such omission had deprived him of his right to a fair hearing. The Attorney General and the Police Commissioner appealed the judgment. The court, presided by Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo and Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri, said it agreed with the first court that a five-year wait for criminal proceedings to start was a breach of his right to be tried within a reasonable time. However,...
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