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Criminal Law

Criminal Law includes a wide range of criminal offences under Maltese Law, which is mainly regulated by Chapter 9, the Criminal Code.   

AV Legal provides legal representation for the rights of the accused or legal defence for the injured party.  The Maltese criminal Courts can be split up into three main categories:

The Court of Magistrates, The Criminal Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal.   The Court of Magistrates is found both in Malta and in Gozo.  The said court can either act as a court of criminal judicature or as a court of criminal inquiry. Therefore, it can hold two different positions each having its own responsibilities.

The Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Judicature is the primary function of this court.  Therefore a Magistrate is competent to try and contraventions and crimes which punishment will not exceed six month imprisonment.  There are certain circumstances where the accused will be tried in front of the Court of Magistrates as a court of criminal judicature for crimes which do carry punishments for up to ten years imprisonment, however in such cases certain procedures are laid down by the law.

In most cases when the offence exceeds six months imprisonment the court of magistrates must hold an inquiry.  It will therefore be deemed to be the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Inquiry.

The Criminal Court has the competence to try parties changed with offences carrying more than six month imprisonment.  It is not to say that these offences can not be tried in front of the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Judicature for crimes that carry a punishment for up to ten years due to the fact that this court can try offences by jury. 

The Attorney General (AG) must first file a Bill of Indictment before the Criminal Court.  This Bill will contain all the evidence complied by the Court of Magistrates as Court of Criminal Inquiry as well as all the charges brought against  the said accused.   In this case a judge will sit together with a jury made up of nine persons and the accused has to be heard by the panel.  The panel will decide if they find the accused guilty or innocent an not the judge.  The Judge must then abide by the jury’s verdict when giving the accused the punishment accordingly.

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Neither the accused nor the Attorney General can file an appeal from the decision delivered by the Jury. Therefore this means that if the person is acquitted, then all parties such as the Attorney General and the judge must abide by such decision.  If the accused is however found guilty of committing the crime then the said accused will not have the right to lodge an appeal from such a decision.

When we speak of the Court of Criminal Appeal, we are speaking about a court which hears and decides on appeals from the court of magistrates as court of criminal judicature.  The appeal must be filed within eight working days.  Three judges preside over the court of Criminal Appeal. 

The Maltese judicial systems also contains a Juvenile Court which is entitled to hear cases with regards to offences or criminal committed by minors who are under the age of sixteen. 

 Maltese Law also provides for a whole list of prescription periods whereby different crimes are time barred.  Thus this means that once a period be it years or months depending on the crime has elapsed then the person so accused can never be tried for that particular offence before the Criminal Courts in Malta, as such offence will be deemed as time barred.

AV Legal will assist clients throughout their criminal proceedings.  We ensure that we will protect the fundamental human rights of the accused and also take care of litigation in cases when a defence is required for the injured party.