A man yesterday filed a writ in court, protesting against his arrest for a second time in the context that the Constitutional Court ruled that doing so was in breach of a person’s right to a fair trial.

Gaetan Caramazza, who was recently cleared of fraud, made reference to a Constitutional Court decision involving Joseph Lebrun, who was cleared of heroin importation after a magistrates’ court ruled that not enough prima facie evidence was put forward by the prosecution.

However, the attorney general appealed under article 433 of the Criminal Code and consulted with a judge on the issue, albeit one that does not normally preside over the Court of Appeal.

Lebrun subsequently filed a series of writs to the Constitutional Court and it was eventually decided that the AG’s actions violated his right to a fair trial and that the relevant law would have to be amended within three months in order to charge Lebrun again as the charges would be time barred within three months.

In this context, the complainant said that the decision to clear him of charges of fraud should still stand and that fresh charges brought against him were null in line with the decision of the Constitutional Court in the Lebrun case.