Prison inmates’ wedding denied ten days before big day, awarded moral damages

May 4 2022

Moral damages have been awarded to an inmate at the Corradino Correctional Facility after his and his girlfriend’s plans to get married were denied just 10 days before the big day by the former prison director.

The story, which concerns Yousef Essesi and Meliza Muscat, had hit headlines back in 2019 after the couple decided to go public about the troubles they were facing with prison authorities.

Former prison director Alex Dalli had decided to allow marriage preparations to go ahead, but then changed his mind 10 days before. The court concluded that the applicants’ rights to marry and private family life had been breached.

Essesi’s detention ‘stark naked inside a bare cell without even a mattress’ also amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment. The couple had been in a relationship for some months and expressed wishes to marry in 2018.

Leave from the prison’s board was also acquired, with the couple meeting outside the prison to apply for publication of the marriage bans. Following the denial 10 days before, Essesi took it very badly.

He was also locked and transferred to the punishment division, which was used to detain inmates on suicide watch. Correctional services agency reports had concluded that Essesi had psychopathic traits and an antisocial personality disorder.

Essesi ended up naked in a cell without a toilet, sink, bed, mattress or sheets. Dalli claimed that the measure was taken on advice of the psychiatrist, with his girlfriend denied access for six months and her letters blocked.

With Muscat even appearing on Xarabank, the treatment was deemed as ‘pay back’ for Essesi trying to get leave and marry. Muscat took the matter to court. The latter noted the contradictions in Dalli’s testimony, deeming the prison leave conditions an excuse.

After detailing what the couple had gone through to get married, with the application for leave having repercussions as per Essesi’s prison treatment, the court ruled that both their rights were breached. Essesi was awarded €1,000 in moral damages, with Muscat awarded €500.

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‘Five years of hedging’ – Joseph Muscat talks about energy in Malta

May 4 2022

Taking to Facebook, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat went on to give his 5c about hedging and the role of power-stations in Malta.

Muscat said that in the time period when Malta was making the transition from heavy fuel oil to gas, the Nationalist Party came out against the building of power station despite the environmental, economic and health benefits.

‘They used to say that we did not need it and that we could do well with just the inter-connector’ said Muscat. ‘The economy grew so much in the past few years that not only did we not need a new power station, but we have already practically reached its full capacity.’

Muscat pointed out that some claimed that we would save up to €20 million per year. This was an incorrect figure, said the former Labour Party leader, as whoever calculated it did not take into consideration capital cost.

Referring to the PN, Muscat said that they then went on to say that through the hedging deal, through which the price of gas from Azerbaijan was fixated for 5 years, we were losing money.

In these last few months, he said, those who were critiquing have seemingly lost their tongues and no longer criticise the policy of energy mix. ‘I wonder why’ he rhetorically asked.

Muscat said that the response is simple should one do the calculation which everyone seemingly forgot to do. ‘If one simply compares all that the country paid in the past 5 years due to the hedging deal with that which the Maltese were being asked to pay through the inter-connecter alone, we would see that we managed to save €125 million. These are taxes and burdens lifted off families and businesses.’

Muscat said that the decision to commit to hedging to ensure stability, against the advise of those who ‘wrecked the country with high costs’, left a result. This is because bills decreased and were the lowest in Europe.

‘This is why it is easy to understand why some lost their tongues over the topic of energy.’

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Four kilos of cannabis seized by police off dinghy

May 4 2022

Police seized upwards of four kilos of cannabis, registering a street value of more than €100,000. The authorities seized the pile of drugs off a dinghy which had just arrived in Malta.

A 32-year-old man from Marsaxlokk was arrested, and was accused of trafficking and importation of drugs from Sicily to Malta.

The arrest, which occurred Monday evening at around 7pm, after police surrounded a dinghy whilst it was docking in Delimara. Magistrate Victor Axiak is leading an inquiry.

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Russian oil will be completely banned within six months says Von der Leyen

May 4 2022

EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen revealed on Wednesday that the union would be imposing a gradual ban on Russian oil, as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine.

The EU chief said during a parliamentary meeting in Strasbourg that they will make sure that Russian oil is phased out in an orderly fashion.

‘This is why we will phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year’ she said. However, the proposal asked that Hungary and Slovakia, both massively dependent on the oil, be given more time to meet the ban.

Ambassadors from the 27 European Union countries will be meeting on Wednesday to assess the plan as it will need unanimous approval before going into effect.

Leyen also revealed that the EU will be asking that the member states deny Sberbank, which is Russia’s biggest bank, any access to SWIFT, the global banking communications system. This would impede the Russian financial system and Putin’s ability to continue the destruction.

The draft of the proposal is also seeking to add the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, to the list of sanctioned individuals in the package. The list includes 58 people, consisting of the family of Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Apart from this, the list would add military officers who committed war crimes in Bucha and Mariupol. ‘This sends another important signal to all perpetrators of the Kremlin’s war: We know who you are and you will be held accountable’ she said.

#MaltaDaily