It was the Labour Government that proposed amendments which would truly increase the penalties for those who attack a police or public officer, the Labour Party said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
The PL stated that the government has proposed strong amendments which will increase penalties for those who attack a public officer, and continued that those amendments have now passed through a parliamentary committee stage and will become law with a vote in the third reading. It remarked that this will mean that Malta will have the strongest laws it has ever had against those who attack a public officer.
It commented that despite the government proposing these strong amendments, the Nationalist Party made different proposals. The PL said that the PN's proposals were deemed to "not make sense even in the context of other laws" by legal experts from the State Advocate's office.
The PL remarked that the PN should remember that the drafting of laws should be taken seriously so as not to end up being nullified in Court. It continued that it would be better for the PN MPs to talk to each other, as it said that amendments made by the PN's Home Affairs Shadow Minister Darren Carabott go against the spirit of other amendments which other PN MPs have recently voted in favour of.
"It would have been easy for the government to fall into the trap of populism, but instead it chose seriousness and the experts' advice to make the necessary changes effective and act as a deterrent," the PL stated.
It said that the legal amendments tabled by the government and becoming law state that in case of offences of threats or assault on a person, the minimum fine will be increased from €800 to €1,200. It added that the maximum fine will be increased from €5,000 to €7,500.
The PL continued that when the assault or resistance with violence is committed by one person or two people, the imprisonment penalty will be increased from a minimum of six months to a minimum of one year, and that it will be increased from a maximum of two years to a maximum of four years. It continued that the minimum fine in this case will increase from €4,000 to €6,000, and that the maximum fine will increase from €10,000 to €15,000.
Continuing, it said that when the assault or violent resistance is committed by three or more people, then the minimum prison penalty will be extended from nine months to a year and a half, whilst the maximum penalty will be increased from three years to six years. The minimum fine will be increased from €5,000 to €7,500, and the maximum will be increased from €15,000 to €22,500.
In the case of a weapon being used during the offence, then the minimum prison sentence will be increased from one year to a year and a half, and the maximum will be increased from four years to six years. In this case, the minimum fine will be increased from €8,000 to €12,000, and the maximum will be increased from €20,000 to €30,000.
The PL concluded that when these offences include public violence, then the minimum prison sentence will be increased from two years to three years, while the maximum prison sentence will be increased from five years to seven years. For cases like this, there will now also be the introduction of fines, with the minimum being €10,000 and the maximum being €25,000.