Neil Camilleri

A shop owner who was “illegally” arrested by around six officers in September was “manhandled” and “thrown into a police car like a sack of potatoes, his lawyer said today.

Ivan Zammit, 49, has filed a constitutional case calling on the courts to find the police force responsible for assaulting him, causing him slight injuries, and treating him in a degrading way during the two hours he spent inside a police cell.

Mr Zammit claims he was illegally arrested after what his lawyer, Dr Etienne Calleja, called a “minor incident” over a parking space. For some reason the Sliema shop owner refused to give his ID card to the police officers, but he gave them his particulars instead. The details checked out.

He claims that, upon his refusal to hand over his identity document, the police grabbed him, twisted his arms and slammed him inside their car. He also claimed that they ransacked his shop, in full view of his young daughter. Between six and eight officers, including members of the Rapid Intervention Unit, were involved in the commotion. Mr Zammit was then taken to Sliema police station and held inside a tiny cell with no ventilation. Mr Zammit claims the cell was dark and very dirty.

His lawyer explained that the police released his client soon after he spoke to the arresting officer, Police Sergeant Ramon Mifsud, and told him the arrest was illegal.

Speaking to the press in front of the law courts today, Dr Calleja insisted the police had no right to arrest someone just because they refused to hand over their ID cards. Moreover, officers should use minimal force. He said the arrest was illegal and unjustified. It was lucky, he said, that Mr Zammit had only sustained slight injuries. The way his client was treated during his arrest was also “inhuman and degrading.” Dr Calleja insisted that the police had a duty of care and had to provide detainees with their basis needs. Mr Zammit, he said, was even denied a cup of water.

Apart from the constitutional case, Mr Zammit has also filed a criminal complaint asking the police to investigate the arrest and determine whether the officers involved had acted criminally.

Replying to questions by The Malta Independent, Mr Zammit said the police did not say anything to him when they eventually released him. There was no apology and no reasons for the arrest and release were given. Dr Caleja said it was strange how his client was held for a total of three hours but released soon after he spoke to Sergeant Mifsud.

Asked if he thought the sergeant had anything personal against Mr Zammit, Dr Calleja said he believed this was the police officer’s usual way of doing things. He noted that the Sergeant had ended up in the newspapers on more than one occasion over a number of incidents.

Mr Zammit also claimed that in the 22 September incident, Sergeant Mifsud also told him: “You don’t know who I am. I am crazy.”