Man originally sentenced to 11 years for running a brothel argues rights were breached

● Request for bail denied

A man previously convicted for several offences relating to running a brothel had his request for bail – pending the outcome of a Constitutional case he has filed – denied.

Raymond Mifsud was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment back in 2012 after being found guilty of running a modern prostitution ring. This sentence was reduced to four years following an appeal made back in February, after several extenuating circumstances had emerged. Mifsud’s lawyers then filed a Constitutional case in May, claiming that his fundamental rights had been breached. Lawyers asked for Mifsud to be released on bail until his client’s case was decided.

Background

Back in 2012, the courts heard how Mifsud had been luring Eastern European women to Malta with false promises of work in the catering sector when he was really locking them up in his farmhouse and forcing them to have sex with men against a €35 fee.

Police were alerted to the international prostitution ring when in 2004 one of the kidnapped girls managed to contact her mother in Russia and describe the terrifying series of events that she had been forced to endure.

The mother then contacted the police, which was the first tip-off they had received about the matter. It transpired that an immigration officer was also complicit, as revealed by Magistrate Giovanni Grixti, who was presiding over the case.

Media reports detailed how the accused, 37, from Luqa, would sell off those girls who refused to work as prostitutes or in a strip bar. They were sold off for roughly €1,200 to cover the costs of bringing them to Malta in the first place.

He was assisted by his Russian partner, Tatiana Alkina. In her testimony, she admitted to having previously been convicted of running a brothel, but stressed that despite being in a relationship with the accused, he had treated her in the same way as the other girls he lured in.

She had claimed that Mifsud forced her to bring in women from Russia and Ukraine. Arrangements were made through her mother in Moscow, Russia. Her instructions included bringing in women that would ‘work’ as strippers at a particular strip club in Paceville. The club had issued a statement claiming that it had no knowledge of the illicit practices used to lure the women into working there.

Alkina testified that she had made arrangements for nine women who were brought to Malta, but that the accused had brought in more women than that through arrangements with a third party.

Times of Malta had reported that immigration officer Kevin Amato admitted in court to having been the intermediary for the sale of a woman from Mifsud, but an argument erupted when the buyer refused to pay the full €600.

Courts reject bail

Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti, in a ruling delivered yesterday morning, made note of how Mifsud asked to be released from his sentence of four years’ imprisonment when this had partially been confirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeal. The court also took into consideration the fact that there was no evidence or any extenuating circumstances causing the urgent release of Mifsud, pending the outcome of the Constitutional case.

Mifsud’s defence team argued that his fundamental rights had been breached on the basis that there was no fair hearing due to a “reasonable belief in a mistaken fact,” including accusations of discrimination in the charges of trafficking an adult for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Lawyers also asked that court to rule on the manner in which the accused’s statement had been taken by the police.

The courts noted that it did not have enough to rule on such claims, commenting that it has yet to examine these allegations in detail.

Mifsud’s request for the inclusion of an objection against the way the statement had been taken was accepted, while bail was denied.

Lawyers Tonio Azzopardi and Alfred Abela represent the accused.