In a bid to better protect victims of violent crimes, the heirs of victims of voluntary homicide and eventually even victims of other crimes, the government has introduced a new regulation that provides new legal rights to certain victims of crime.

Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and Parliamentary Secretary in the same ministry, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, yesterday gave details of the new regulation that came into force on 27 June this year.

“This is an innovative concept in our legal system and the government’s intention is to introduce the regulation gradually and to eventually include other types of crime victims in the list of people that could receive compensation,” said Minister

Borg.

He said that over the past few years, the government had introduced a number of measures in favour of victims of crime.

Asked whether he was satisfied with the current situation, Dr Borg replied in the negative, saying he wanted to be able to introduce further measures that give more rights to the victims of crime.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that the new regulation is intended to create a balance between the rights of the victim and the rights of the accused.

It applies to crimes that have taken place since 1 January 2006 and has so far been limited to voluntary violent crimes, but Minister Borg undertook to eventually expand the regulation to include other crimes like theft and rape for instance.

Apart from the victims of crime and their heirs, the regulation also applies to people who were supported by the victim of the crime in question. Applicants have to be Maltese or European citizens and for the time being, the ceiling for the amount of compensation that can be rewarded has been set at Lm10,000 (EUR23,293).

In the same way that the regulation will be expanded to include other crimes, the minister said the compensation ceiling will also be extended eventually.

The regulation includes a number of criteria that will need to be verified by the Attorney General’s Office, where applications for compensation will be processed.

Among the criteria in the legal notice and the regulation, it is specified that the applicant must provide evidence that he or she is the actual victim of the crime, that the victim has tried seeking compensation from the person convicted of the crime and that all other possible remedies have been exhausted.

Payment of compensation will naturally reflect the nature of the crime, according to established criteria included in the Civil Code.

Dr Borg pointed out that the introduction of this regulation has been preceded by other reforms over the years. These reforms included the fact that victims who testify in court are allowed to be present at all times during the legal proceedings.

Victims of crime are also granted the right to compensation from the person found guilty, whenever necessary, and the court is obliged to release stolen items without the consent of the defence.

In addition, the government has also introduced the concept of video conferencing in cases involving victims and witnesses who happen to be children, and such cases are always assigned to one

specialised magistrate.

The minister said these reforms were intended to further protect the victims of crime, who deserve due respect, and the new regulation will continue building on the reforms in the best interest of society at large.