While Malta’s leading politicians were collecting money for charity, a German died at the Police Depot in Floriana. We were told by the Police that this man was homeless and a drug addict. Frankly, I did not know that homeless people in Malta now risk being arrested. What an irony! While Malta was concentrating on the needy, a person in need was locked up and abandoned in a cell by our Police. Perhaps, the reader’s reaction would be “You are forgetting the second detail; he was a drug addict”.
But we have been told by both past and present administrations that drug addicts in Malta are not put behind bars. Being a drug addict in Malta is not a crime. It is drug trafficking that constitutes a crime. Nevertheless, The Malta Independent added a third detail. According to the police, this man was caught acting suspiciously at Msida. Yet no further details were forthcoming regarding this issue of theft, which is the only reason that can justify the arrest. In the various Sunday reports of 27 December, carrying the Police Press Conference regarding this sad story, none stated that this German was involved in drug trafficking or theft. These important details were all missing in the media reports that I read about this case. Now, it had been established that this man has killed himself.
Yet, the police have a lot to learn from this story. It is important for the police to give accurate details about the reason that leads to any arrest if it wants to put the mind of any law-abiding citizen at rest. Instead it makes one suspicious and one begins disbelieving any statements or press conferences by the police.
Irrespective of whether theft was involved in this case, it is extremely serious that an individual dies while in police custody. Suicide is not a justification for someone to die at the depot. Once the police decide to make an arrest, it has to assume full responsibility for the person under arrest. Much debate took place, often based on historical facts, about how prisoners were abused in the past by both the state and religious authorities. Unfortunately, the police force has a history of deaths at the Depot, which compels the media to ask questions. The impression is that where the administration of justice is concerned, it is no different to how it used to operate in the Dark Ages. All doubts need to be removed around this case.
This is not the first time that someone died while in Police custody. Three months ago, another individual from Żejtun was found dead while under arrest at the depot. We were told that he killed himself. There is also the cause celebre of Nicholas Azzopardi, who died in very mysterious circumstances always at the depot. The different magisterial inquiries held regarding his death have left a number of unanswered questions.
Ironically, the Labour Opposition made great fuss about this death at the time, but soon forgot everything once it came to power in 2013. Strangely even Malta Today, the newspaper that uncovered this case, stopped talking about Azzopardi’s death after Labour was elected. The impression I get is that the Labour Opposition and Malta Today were far more interested in forcing the Minister of the Interior at the time, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici to resign than in getting to the bottom of what really happened at the Depot. Now, it is the turn of the Nationalist Opposition, which asked for the resignation of the Minister responsible for the police following this last case.
The only time that there was a will to solve a murder at the Depot was the case of Nardu Debono. But the interest was more political; a sort of personal vendetta against the then Police Commissioner, Lawrence Pullicino, than a public act in restoring the spirit of true retributive justice. I am stating this as those who had physically hit and killed Debono went scotch free in return for their king’s evidence and continued to enjoy political favour with the Government of the day.
It is extremely disquieting that we have a third death of a man under arrest in a relatively short span of time. It is extremely important for the police to come out clean once and for all. If there are individuals within the corps who have make mistakes, they are not above law because they are police officers and any form of protection should cease. Justice has to be applied equally to all. It would be extremely dangerous for the police to try to use its powers to cover up its failings.
A veteran lawyer once told me that a fine line separates criminals from the police. His remarks reminded me of a passage in St Augustine when he compares two actions, which are the same, but one is deemed criminal and the other equitable. Once, a pirate was captured by the forces of Alexander the Great. He was brought in front of this general and accused of having pillaged the seas. The pirate defended himself by stating that, “because I raid with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst those who do it with a great fleet are styled as Emperors.”
The worst thing that could happen to any State is for its police force to start behaving similar to or worse than those it is expected to arrest. According to St Augustine, it is at this stage that the State (or in this case, the Police) starts covering-up its actions with impunity and gets away with murder. If this is proved to be the case, then the PN is right to ask the minister concerned to shoulder political responsibility and resign.