Fiches Belges

The summoning of persons in Malta is a procedure carried out by the police. The hearing of witnesses when required to be carried out under oath and when this has been expressly requested by the requesting state, is carried out by a Magistrate. In Malta it is only a Magistrate that can carry out the hearing of a witness (including in the capacity of a victim or when the witness is a minor) under oath because Magistrates have the power to administer oath. A police officer can however request the witness to appear before them to answer questions or make a witness declaration. In the context of a international cooperation request, a suspect or an accused person in Malta, can be asked to appear before a police officer, who will inform the suspect/accused of all their rights according to law, including their right to remain silent and take a statement from that suspect/accused. Suspects can be asked to attend at a place where their statement can be taken voluntarily by a police officer.

Directive 2014/41 or European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Strasbourg 1959) Convention of 29 May 2000 on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States of the European Union

Office of the Attorney General receives the request and transmits it to the Executive Police and to Court (if necessary) for its execution.

English or Maltese

Whilst Maltese law does not include a specific deadline, requests for the summoning and hearing of witnesses must be sent within a timeframe that allows sufficient time to locate and summon the person. It must be noted that in the context of requests sent on the basis of the European Convention, for the purpose of Article 7, paragraph 3, the Government of Malta requests that the summons to be served on an accused person who is in its territory be transmitted to its authorities at least 50 days before the date set for appearance.

It should be noted that Malta has declared that it does not apply Article 11 of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (1959) and therefore it will not execute a request for the temporary transfer of a witness who is a person in custody. In terms of Maltese law, no person shall be excluded from giving testimony for want of any particular age; it shall be sufficient that the court be satisfied that the witness, though not of age, understands that it is wrong to give false testimony. The testimony of the minor who is under sixteen years of age is audio-visually recorded and is conducted in the presence of a Magistrate. Questions are posed to the minor via the Magistrate and not directly to the minor.