Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Asylum seeker beaten to death in Malta

  • Two Maltese soldiers have been accused of beating to death an asylum seeker from Mali (Photo: USEmbMalta)

The alleged beating to death of an asylum seeker by two soldiers in Malta has highlighted the country’s poor reception conditions.

The Malian asylum seeker had escaped from Malta's Safi detention centre in August 2009. On Friday evening, he sought medical treatment at a clinic but staff alerted the authorities who picked him up in a van and transported him to a detention facility, report Maltese media. By the time he arrived at the facility early Saturday morning, he was found dead inside the van.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

“He had blows to his groin. He did not die of natural causes,” Dr Neil Falzon of the Aditus Foundation, a human rights NGO, told EUobserver.

Malta’s ministry of foreign affairs would not comment on the death because of ongoing court proceedings. The two soldiers deny the accusations and have pleaded not guilty. However, Malta says they will launch an inquiry into its detention services.

The island-nation has only two facilities which are both stationed on military bases.

Allegations of violence against asylum seekers are widespread with NGOs and international organisations condemning the state’s policy of mandatory detention.

A report by the International Commission of Jurists in May criticized the country for the “poor hygienic conditions of the detention centres.”

Both of Malta’s detention facilities each currently house around 100 people, including unaccompanied minors says Falzon.

Maltese authorities told this website that children and other vulnerable people “are not subject to the detention requirement” but have their freedom restricted until they are cleared medically.

NGOs say most of those detained spend between six to eight months in cramped rooms. Those denied refugee or asylum status may remain up to 18 months in the facilities, they claim.

“The whole environment is very depressing,” said Falzon.

Dr Katrine Camilleri of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) on Sunday released a statement claiming “that these and other violent incidents that have occurred over the years demonstrate that Malta’s initial reception system has repeatedly failed and that the costs of the mandatory detention policy far outweigh the potential benefits for all concerned.”

The vast majority are from North Africa with many having been forced to flee persecution. Up to 70 percent are granted either refugee status or subsidiary protection status due to the overwhelming evidence supporting decisions to flee their home countries for non-economic reasons.

Malta had over 2,000 requests and granted 885 positive decisions in 2011, according the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat. Around 70 became officially recongised refugees, 690 obtained subsidiary protection, and 125 remained for humanitarian reasons.

“Those immigrants who qualify for international protection are immediately released from detention, offered accommodation at Open Centres and granted the relevant rights. Those immigrants who do not seek international protection or do not qualify for it, must be repatriated,” Malta’s ministry of foreign affairs told EUobserver by email.

Malta is among the member states currently opposing the European Commission and the European Parliament’s proposal to offer judicial review of detained asylum seekers. The judicial review would entitle a judge to scrutinize any state decision to send an asylum seeker to a detention centre.

Member states and the European Parliament had on Wednesday 27(June) entered into negotiations in an attempt to finalise the outstanding issue but failed to achieve a compromise by early Thursday.

MEPs had hoped the Danish EU presidency, following the collapse in talks over a separate border control issue, would apply additional pressure on member states to cloture the EU asylum legislative package.

But a no-decision means negotiations will have to continue under the Cypriot Presidency with EU ministers meeting on 11 July to discuss possible ways forward.

EU Parliament set to sue EU Commission over Hungary funds

The European Parliament will likely take the European Commission to court for unblocking more than €10bn in funds for Hungary last December. A final nod of approval is still needed by European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola.

EU Commission clears Poland's access to up to €137bn EU funds

The European Commission has legally paved the way for Poland to access up to €137bn EU funds, following Donald Tusk's government's efforts to strengthen the independence of their judiciary and restore the rule of law in the country.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Opinion

I'll be honest — Moldova's judicial system isn't fit for EU

To state a plain truth: at present, Moldova does not have a justice system worthy of a EU member state; it is riven with corruption and lax and inconsistent standards, despite previous attempts at reform, writes Moldova's former justice minister.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us