The Court of Appeals of Malta on Tuesday heard arguments for and against the reversal of an extradition judgement against Maltese-Australian Angelo Spiteri, the Malta Independent reports.
Spiteri is wanted in Lithuania for alleged fraud of his travel company, named “Atostogi sandėlis”. He is registered as the director and has been accused of deliberately failing to provide the services for which he had received payment.
If found guilty of the four charges brought against him in Lithuania, Spiteri could be facing 17 years in prison.
A court previously ruled in favour of extraditing Spiteri to Lithuania, but he has appealed, saying conditions in Lithuanian prisons would violate his human rights.
The appeal quotes “disgusting and stomach-turning human rights breaches for which Lithuanian prisoners are so notorious.”
Reference was made to a judgement handed down by the ECHR in a case of Markus Kardišauskas against the Lithuanian government. He was left with a 10% disability after receiving a beating from fellow inmates at a Lithuanian prison in 2003.
Spiteri's attorney mentioned a number of other cases which highlighted abuses inside Lithuania's prison system.
The court's ruling on extraditing Spiteri is expected on 17 February.