
Silta mis-seduta tal-Qorti tal-5 ta' Lulju '01
Extract from the court sitting of 5th July '01
English translation of the testimony given by then Police Inspector Carmelo Bartolo: (Romeo Camilleri was a former Court registrar. The parts in brackets are my additions)
Witness: (pg.27) ... Now, not even to tell her hello, not even to apologize to her — and this after a warning that was given by the Police to not in any way communicate with her. We explained to him, not with her, nor with any other. I understand that to Mr. Romeo Camilleri and all his family, a letter of this sort annoys them, namely because it was not the first time, was not the first letter. We filed the petition not because it is an apology, nor because it is something else, but simply because of the fact he communicated with them. He was ordered to in no way communicate with them. We did not file the petition because of the videos in question (the mentioned Romeo Camilleri had few minutes before falsely testified mentioning the video), those came after the letter, after we filed the petition came the videos. We are still investigating in this regard. When we filed the petition we had in hand the letter. When we got the videos in hand, we began investigating them.
Court: To which timeframe do the videos refer to? (Note Magistrate Carol Peralta is asking on the videos because of the commotion created in the Court after Romeo Camilleri had few minutes before testified, albeit falsely and with malignant intention, about them).
Witness: Mr. Romeo Camilleri had spoken with us (Note the plural) regarding the videos, we asked him to bring them, he subsequently brought them, we had already submitted it (the petition) because had came the letter and submitted the petition immediately. We did not file the petition concerning the videos. I felt I had to file the petition because of this communication made, and when we talked with him myself and the Assistant Commissioner Rizzo (the two for whom the plural was used), he admitted he had sent this letter.
The handwritten parts are my notes, likely added after submitting this document to the Commission for the Administration of Justice, and they are as follows:
Analysis
Note how, initially, they presented supposedly overwhelming testimony — the existence of a video, or rather “videos” — to have me lose my bail. Yet this evidence never appeared in any subsequent court sittings, exposing it as a blatant frame-up and false testimony. Romeo Camilleri, an ex-registrar of the Courts, was referred to by Magistrate Carol Peralta as “my friend.”
The apology letter I sent them was partly bait: to excuse my own wrongdoings while exploiting their thirst for revenge. My goal was to provoke them into acts that would expose their misconduct and potentially turn the case in my favor, making my transgressions seem minor by comparison. In reality, they abused this opportunity so severely that, to avoid implicating themselves, they had to label me completely mentally unstable (despite my full-time employment), making it harder for me to expose their abuses, especially before I had all necessary documentation.
From Romeo Camilleri’s testimony, I realized the video actually depicted me — filmed before my arrest. Still, with full Police support, they tried to frame me by presenting it as if it had been recorded afterward, to revoke my bail.
The abuse I suffered from Magistrate Carol Peralta during the fourth court sitting on 4 February 2002 — where he threatened to smash me against the wall — was a direct consequence of this frame-up, part of an effort to cover up the abuses I had reported.
This was not the only Police frame-up. Another involved a statement submitted to the Court in my name, which lacked my genuine signature. They even used this to add a false accusation of signature falsification (“he did falsifications with fake signatures”), yet Police officer Carmelo Bartolo, fully aware of this, submitted it to the Court anyway.
Timeline of events
- Wed 13-Jun-01 — I was arrested after returning home from work by bus at around 16:00.
- Fri 15-Jun-01 – My first court appearance: I appeared before Magistrate Carol Peralta, who released me on bail under extreme conditions. I was required to sign in twice daily, remain at home overnight, and avoid five towns — four of which had no connection to the case (Sliema, St. Julian’s, Rabat, and Mdina, which lies within Rabat). This was allegedly because these places contained nightlife and entertainment venues frequented by the daughter of the former court registrar, while at the same time portraying her as a complete virgin and me as being obsessed with her. Inspector Carmelo Bartolo submitted a police statement in my name that did not contain my true signature, while simultaneously accusing me of falsifying signatures.
- Thur 21-Jun-01 — I tried my luck by writing an apology letter and sending it the same day, which reached the recipients the next day. I only wrote my name at the end without signing it, as I did not trust them and anticipated potential retaliation.
- Fri 22-Jun-01 – That former court registrar, Romeo Camilleri, received the letter and immediately informed the police. Presumably, the police indicated that an apology letter alone would not be sufficient to revoke my bail, so they needed additional grounds to frame me.
- Night between Sat 23 - Sun 24-Jun-01 — They falsely claimed to have seen me that night in Bahar ic-Caghak near their home. The problem is that my motorcycle had been confiscated during my arrest, leaving me without transport — especially at night when no bus service operated. And ask yourself: what purpose would it have served for me to go there, simply to give them an excuse to revoke my bail? Had it really happened, one would have expected them to inform the police immediately, as they had done with the apology letter.
- Mon 25-Jun-01 – They escalated their appetite for revenge by exploiting my apology letter. They fabricated a claim that I had scratched the car of someone I had never met. On this day, the police submitted a request to the court to revoke my bail for sending the apology letter (noting that Romeo Camilleri had informed them of this on 22-Jun-01). However, there was no mention of the alleged video showing my presence at Bahar ic-Caghak, despite it supposedly occurring two nights earlier, giving the police ample time to investigate.
- Thur 28-Jun-01 - Lawyer Joe Giglio, representing Romeo Camilleri and his family, submitted a request to the court to revoke my bail, citing the apology letter. The submission also falsely claimed I had scratched a car and had been seen at Bahar ic-Caghak at night.
- During same week – I was called to the police depot, where Assistant Commissioner John Rizzo and Inspector Carmelo Bartolo interrogated me. I admitted sending the apology letter, denied involvement with the scratched car, and denied being on a motorcycle at Bahar ic-Caghak, despite their claim of having video evidence.
- Thur 5-Jul-01 – I was arraigned in court again, this time in an attempt to have my bail revoked. Despite all the allegations, neither the police nor Romeo Camilleri claimed that I had scratched any car. Instead, Romeo Camilleri falsely and maliciously testified that a video showed me riding a motorcycle near his home. (Of course, had I actually committed any acts of vandalism before my arrest — as I was later accused of — they would have presented a video of me committing those acts, not simply passing by on my motorcycle, to strengthen their case.) I then realized that the incident in question had taken place before my arrest, but they attempted to frame it as if it had happened afterward, with the full support of the police, in order to revoke my bail. Inspector Carmelo Bartolo stated that the video was still under investigation, even though it had been in their possession for 11 days. In later court hearings, the video was never mentioned again, nor were the results of any supposed investigation ever reported.
- Mon 4-Feb-02 – My 4th court sitting
Magistrate Carol Peralta was frustrated with Psychiatrist David Cassar, whom he had nominated months earlier during the very first court sitting on 15-Jun-01. Cassar had still not submitted his report on me, nor had he even seen me. Peralta called me near him to speak face-to-face. He tried to excuse his “friend” Romeo Camilleri, saying he had every reason to be suspicious of me. I managed to tell him that false testimony had been given in a previous court sitting, but Peralta not only refused to investigate — instead, he cut me short and threatened me with the words: “DON'T RESPOND TO ME, FOR I’LL SMASH YOU AGAINST THE WALL.” Back home, I told my father what had happened. He said: “duk forsi biex ma jurix li se jgħinok / maybe he doesn’t want to show that he is going to help you.” It turned out that my uncle-in-law was friends with Peralta (their boats/yachts were moored near each other in Msida, or something of the sort). Between the 2nd court sitting and this one, my uncle-in-law went to find Peralta in court to speak about my case, hoping he could be of help. Peralta suggested that next time he come with my parents, which in fact happened. He told them something along the lines of: “Nara x’nista’ nagħmel, imma għamel ħafna / I’ll see what I can do, but he did too much.” So I followed my father’s advice and refrained from immediately reporting the incident of this sitting. But two weeks later, when I was suddenly seen for the first time by Psychiatrist David Cassar, he indirectly revealed how Magistrate Carol Peralta intended to have me sentenced (“what I can do”): to save my career by avoiding a prison sentence, but instead to make me pay for defamation and other charges. I told him that if they insisted on prosecuting me, they should first prosecute Magistrate Carol Peralta.
- Tue 12-Jun-02 – Court sitting and psychiatric abuse: On this date, Peralta and Cassar conspired during a court sitting to have me kidnapped and abusively locked up at Mount Carmel Hospital. This was based on the blatant lies of Psychiatrist David Cassar, who claimed I was suffering from “delusions of persecution.” The aim was to discredit me, label me as mentally ill, make it harder for me to expose the abuses, and in particular to protect Magistrate Carol Peralta’s career. A few days earlier, my lawyer had intentionally abandoned me, making it easier for me to end up kidnapped and abused. Peralta then nominated lawyer Tonio Azzopardi (instead of the next in line). The day before I was to be examined by three psychiatrists, Azzopardi sent me a letter threatening me with extortion (rikatt). I remained locked up and drugged in hospital for no less than 37 days. (These 37 consecutive days were the only sick leave I ever took in my 15 and a half years of work.) Afterward, I reported the matter to the Commission for the Administration of Justice.
Now ask yourself if such a big fraudster and liar of Psychiatrist David Cassar who covers-up abuses of mere staff / nurses whom I had reported for passing entire nights when on work sleeping, of stealing patients' food and even ended smashing my laptop, would you think he would have thought it twice to cover-up the abuses of such big head as Magistrate Carol Peralta and the rest of the friends of friends?
Abuses of Police Inspector, now Supretendent, Carmelo Bartolo in my 1st Court case of 2001
- He framed me up in my first Court case when he presented to the Court a Police statement in my name when he knew it did not contain my true signature to the point that he accused me with falsification of signatures.
- He was an accomplice in the frame-up of the video mentioned on 5-Jul-01 (see above) to make me loose the Provisional Liberty and even testified falsely in Court that the video was still being investigated.
- He tampered with evidence, a video that took place before the arrest made it appear it happened after the arrest to make me loose the bail.
- He made these crimes when he was duty bound to prevent.
With this Police Inspector Carmelo Bartolo by then had since long been promoted to Superintendent, ended mentioned in the media, grasped the opportunity and on same day of 19-Oct-2021 sent this email to the Commissioner of Police asking him to be interrogated regarding these abuses he had done on me in the past, but was all in vain.