Seven years on: Lassana Cisse murder suspects still awaiting trial in Malta
Seven years after Lassana Cisse was shot dead in Birżebbuġa, accused soldiers Francesco Fenech and Lorin Scicluna have yet to stand trial for Malta's first alleged racially-motivated murder.
Seven years since Lassana Cisse's death, no trial yet for accused soldiers
Seven years have passed since the murder of Lassana Cisse, and the two men charged with killing him — Francesco Fenech and Lorin Scicluna — have still not stood trial, maltatoday.com.mt reports. The case is widely regarded as the first racially-motivated murder in Malta.
Cisse was 42 years old and a father of three, originally from the Ivory Coast. He was walking home along Triq tal-Ġebel in Birżebbuġa on the night of 6 April 2019 with two friends, Ibrahim Bah and Mohammed Jallow, after watching a football match, when two shots were fired at them from a passing white car. Cisse died from his wounds; Bah and Jallow survived.
Fenech and Scicluna, both serving soldiers with the Armed Forces of Malta at the time, were arrested on 18 May 2019. They face charges of murder, as well as the attempted murder of Ibrahim and Mohammed. On the night of the shooting, the pair were reportedly in the area "looking for cats to kill." Prosecutors allege that Fenech pulled the trigger.
The two were also charged in connection with a separate incident two months earlier, in which May Malimi, then 17, was struck by the same white car on the same street. Malimi later stated: "I spent an hour on the ground with a broken arm, unable to move." Fenech and Scicluna deny the attacks, though testimony given by Scicluna has been described as complicating their defence.
The pair were released on bail seven months after their arrest, against a deposit of €30,000 and a personal guarantee of €20,000 each. The prosecution concluded presenting its case in 2021, yet the trial itself has not commenced.
Scicluna had admitted to harbouring hostility towards Black people and to behaving aggressively when he felt they were looking at him. The two men reportedly made regular trips to the Ħal Far area with the stated aim of intimidating migrants or provoking them into confrontations.
Within his community, Cisse had been known as a Good Samaritan who assisted newly arrived asylum-seekers in Malta. His mother waited more than three years before his remains were repatriated; his body was finally laid to rest in the Ivory Coast in July 2022, with the Maltese government covering the repatriation costs.
Cisse's killing triggered a series of protests across Malta. Demonstrators gathered even during the COVID-19 lockdown to commemorate him, as part of a wider international wave of anti-racism demonstrations. Seven years on, his family is still waiting for the case to reach a verdict.
Source: Times of Malta