SCHEDULE 4RESERVATIONS AND DECLARATIONS MADE BY CONVENTION STATES
PART 25MALTA
Reservations
Article 1
Malta reserves the right to grant a request for the extradition of a person accused of an offence only where the court of committal is satisfied, after hearing any evidence tendered in support of the request for the return of that person or on behalf of that person, that the evidence would be sufficient to warrant his trial for that offence if it had been committed within the jurisdiction of the Courts of Criminal Justice of Malta. A person convicted of an offence in his absence shall be treated as a person accused of that offence.
Malta reserves the right, when granting extradition, to stipulate that the extradited person shall not be prosecuted for the offence in question in a court which is only provisionally, or under exceptional circumstances, empowered to deal with such offences. Extradition requested for the execution of a sentence rendered by such special court may be refused.
Malta reserves the right to apply the Convention in accordance with Section 20 Chapter 276 of the Laws of Malta (The Extradition Act, 1978) which section reads as follows:
On an appeal made to the Court of Criminal Appeal or an application for redress to the Constitutional Court under Section 46 of the Constitution of Malta, either of the said Courts may, without prejudice to any other jurisdiction, order the person committed to be discharged from custody if it appears to such Court that:
a
by reason of the trivial nature of the offence of which he is accused or was convicted; or
b
by reason of the passage of time since he is alleged to have committed it or to have become unlawfully at large, as the case may be; or
c
because the accusation against him is not made in good faith in the interests of justice,
it would, having regard to all circumstances, be unjust or oppressive to return him.
Article 3
Malta reserves the right to apply paragraph 3 of this Article in accordance with Section 10(5) of the Extradition Act which reads as follows:
For the purposes of this section, an offence against the life or person of a Head of State, or any related offence described in subsection (3) of Section 5 of this Act, shall not necessarily be deemed to be an offence of a political character.
Article 9
Malta reserves the right to apply this Article in accordance with the rule of “Non bis in idem” as laid down in section 527 of the Criminal Code (Chapter 9 of the Laws of Malta) which reads as follows:
Where in a trial, judgment is given acquitting the person charged or accused, it shall not be lawful to subject such person to another trial for the same fact.
Article 18
Malta reserves the right to apply the provisions set out in paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Article in accordance with Section 24 of the Extradition Act (Chapter 276 of the Laws of Malta) which reads as follows:
1
If any person committed to await his return is in custody in Malta under this Act after the expiration of the following period that is to say—
a
in any case, the period of two months beginning with the first day on which, having regard to subsection (2) of Section 21 of this Act, he could have been returned;
b
where a warrant for his return has been issued under Section 21 of this Act, the period of one month beginning with the day on which that warrant was issued—
he may apply to the Court of Criminal appeal, sitting as a court of appeal from judgments of the Court of Judicial Police, for his discharge.
2
If upon any such application the court is satisfied that reasonable notice of the proposed application has been given to the Minister, the court may, unless sufficient cause is shown to the contrary, by order direct the applicant to be discharged from custody, and if a warrant for his return has been issued under the said section squash that warrant.
Article 21
Malta reserves the right to grant such transit under this Article only if so far as transit is permissible under its own laws.