The road to justice

The road to justice is often fraught with injustice. It can discourage even the most resilient and optimistic of persons.

The Vitals Hospitals judicial process is a case in point. 1,200 pages of court-grade proof evidencing the guilt of disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and that of his lieutenants - his former Chief of Staff, Keith Schembri, and his former super-minister Konrad Mizzi (also both disgraced and booted out office by civil society). Yet those whose job and oath of office is to uphold the law and ensure justice - the Attorney General (AG) Victoria Buttigieg, and the Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà are trying their best to pervert the course of justice.

Doing so is treason, plain and simple, a betrayal of their oath of office and of the Maltese people. Most especially of Maltese patients, as the corruption they are protecting with their actions and inactions is the shameful diversion of funds that should have gone into the care of patients into the pockets of a few criminals.

In a case like this, when a former Prime Minister is being charged, an AG and a Police Commissioner who are competent and champion justice would have turned up themselves. They would have done their utmost in their roles as prosecutors. They would have ensured that there were no loopholes or technicalities that could lead to the guilty being let off the hook. This is not the case. Having someone declared by the courts as innocent, because the person is innocent, is justice. Having someone declared by the courts as innocent because the AG and the Police Commissioner have not done their job well is an injustice. A grave injustice, the victims of which are every person on this island. That includes those who don't believe they are because those they deify told them otherwise.

Having the AG and the Police Commissioner protecting the corrupt and the criminal is a perversion of the Rule of Law, and hence justice and democracy. It is baffling how some do not get this. It is even more baffling how some get it but don't care. And we cannot let this situation worsen any further. We already live in a country in which the Rule of Law has been downright eroded, and in which impunity reigns. It's time to ask ourselves whether this is the type of country that we would like to live in. We will not return to being a country where the Rule of Law subsists unless we do something about it. It's not going to happen if we don't all show up. All we can expect is to continue to be ruled by a criminal organisation.

And it would be our fault alone.