NGOs: 'Partial justice' in Lassana Cisse case as Scicluna avoids murder conviction
Lorin Scicluna was sentenced to eight years for grievous injury but acquitted of murdering Lassana Cisse. Over 20 NGOs say the outcome represents only partial justice.
Eight-year sentence for Scicluna draws cautious NGO response
More than 20 civil society organisations have cautiously welcomed the eight-year prison sentence handed to Lorin Scicluna, while making clear they expected a full conviction, Times of Malta reports.
Scicluna, a former soldier, was sentenced for grievously injuring a man in a racially motivated hit-and-run. The presiding judge stated she could not impose a longer term due to a limit set by prosecutors — a position the Attorney General's office has since contested, insisting the judge was empowered to apply any punishment permitted by law.
"It is shameful that a mistake in computation of possible sentencing results in a lesser punishment for a dangerous man like Lorin Scicluna," the joint NGO statement reads.
The organisations argued that the Attorney General should have committed its full resources to the case given the gravity of the crime. They also referenced an earlier statement by the African Media Association Malta, which raised the question of who would protect Black people in their day-to-day lives in Malta.
"Today remains a bittersweet moment for those in Malta who value justice," the statement continues. "We must accept that Malta's flawed prosecution and judicial system was only able to secure partial justice."
On Sunday, a jury acquitted Scicluna of murdering Lassana Cisse, a Guinean national shot dead in a drive-by attack on 6 April 2019 while walking home in Birżebbuġa. Scicluna was also cleared of the attempted murders of Mohammed Jallow, Ibrahim Bah and May Malimi, who were wounded in the same attack.
During the trial, Scicluna testified that his companion Francesco Fenech fired the weapon that killed Cisse. According to the testimony, the two men had been driving through Birżebbuġa that evening searching for "cats" to target when Fenech opened fire on Cisse and the others walking along the road. Fenech is being tried separately on the murder charge.
The joint statement was signed by Aditus, the African Media Association Malta, Prof. Maria Pisani, Men Against Violence, Blue Door Education, Drachma, Paulo Freire Institute Foundation, PEN Malta, Migrant Women Association Malta, Spark 15, The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, Allied Rainbow Communities, Dance Beyond Borders Foundation, Women's Rights Foundation, LGBTI Gozo, MGRM, Association for Justice Equality and Peace, Moviment Graffitti, JRS Malta, Prof. Andrew Azzopardi, Checkpoint Malta, KNŻ, Repubblika and SOS Malta.
Source: Times of Malta