It is time for Malta’s courts to physically split up and move to different buildings, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti believes. Having specialised courts housed in their own buildings is a “necessity not a capricious wish”, Malta’s top judge argued on Monday at the start of the forensic year. Malta’s main court building, in Valletta, is bursting at the seams and struggles to house the cases – and people – it currently does. People are currently forced to wait for hours without finding anything to eat or anywhere to sit, in stuffy corridors which lack air conditioning and where windows are kept shut for security reasons. The Chief Justice believes it is now time for the government to invest in medium-sized buildings in Valletta or nearby to house particular courts, such as the Commercial Court and the Criminal Court. He noted that the Family Court, which currently operates from a site just around the corner from the main court building, is too small to handle the load of very sensitive cases assigned to it. It is common to see people milling around outside the court entrance on Strait Street, waiting their turn simply because there is not enough space to accommodate everyone...
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