Wrongly accused man takes case to European Court of Human Rights

Darryl Luke Borg, the man who spent three nights in jail for a crime he never committed, has filed a case before the European Court of Human Rights after a Maltese court awarded him a paltry €150 despite acknowledging his human rights had been breached. To add insult to injury, the domestic court also ordered him to pay two-thirds of the court fees amounting to over €2,000.  The sum awarded was described as “minimal” by his lawyers David Camilleri and Joseph Gatt in their application filed before the European human rights body, considering their client had been deprived of his freedom. They told the European Court that the Maltese Constitutional Court had only found violation of Mr Borg's rights because the accusations against him were not dropped immediately, without finding violation in the man's initial arrest.  The 27-year-old man's ordeal began on August 6, 2013, when he was arrested, arraigned and remanded in custody over an armed robbery at The Convenience Shop, a grocery store in Mgr Alfred Mifsud Street, Birkirkara. He was receiving treatment for his ADHD condition at Mount Carmel Hospital at the time of his arrest.  Mr Borg’s lawyers are insisting that the police could...