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Bernard Grech calls on government to withdraw bill amending the Interpretation Act
While he said that the Nationalist Party will happily help with legal amendments, Bernard Grech insisted that the bill must be scrapped entirely
17 March 2021, 5:55pm
by Nicole Meilak
Opposition leader Bernard Grech called on Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis to withdraw the bill amending the Interpretation Act, saying that it isn’t faithful towards the Constitution.
During his speech in Parliament, Grech argued that the bill takes away the individual’s right to a fair hearing and takes away from fundamental rights set int he Constitution.
“We’re not talking about damages but about punishment,” he said.
Family Minister Michael Falzon is open to the idea of removing time-barring in sex abuse cases involving children and is ready to start discussions with the Justice Ministry to set the ball rolling.
The minister was reacting to a story published last week which quoted a number of bodies calling for the removal of time-barring in cases of child sexual abuse, mainly because victims only pluck up the courage to speak about their ordeal after several years.
The call was made after it emerged that former Xagħra archpriest Eucharist Sultana had avoided criminal proceedings for sexually abusing an altar boy for four years.
Parliament is currently debating Bill 198 ,amending the Interpretation Act. On the face of it, the bill appears to be an innocuous piece of draft legislation. In fact, however, it contains provisions that undermine the supremacy of the constitution and make nonsense of the review by our Constitutional Court of government actions.
Prominent constitutional experts, including Giovanni Bonello, a former judge of the European Court of Human Rights, and Anthony Borg Barthet, a former attorney general and former member of the European Court of Justice, have criticised its provisions and have alerted public opinion to the fact that this is an attempt at altering the constitution without following the proper procedure, namely, obtaining the support of a two-thirds majority of all the members of the House of Representatives.
Edward Zammit Lewis defends controversial changes to Interpretation Act timesofmalta.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesofmalta.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.