Patrick Malluzzo’s conviction upheld by Indian Court
February 23 2010
For Immediate Release
23 February 2010
Patrick Malluzzo’s conviction upheld by Indian Court
After subjecting Patrick Malluzzo to a four year wait before hearing his appeal, the High Court of Rajasthan has today upheld his conviction.
Jago Russell, Chief Executive of Fair Trials International, said:
“Patrick has been through a horrendous ordeal since his arrest in 2004 and was convicted after a grossly unfair trial. We are hugely disappointed that, after forcing Patrick to wait years for an appeal, the Indian courts have failed to take the opportunity to right this miscarriage of justice.”
Teresa Malluzzo, Patrick’s mother, said:
“For years we have prayed that our son would finally receive justice in the Indian courts and be allowed to come home to us a free man. We are devastated by today’s decision and need some time to gather our thoughts.”
Patrick was arrested during a back-packing trip to India in early 2004 and was convicted after a grossly unfair trial in 2006. He has reported that he was tortured by Indian police and forced to make a televised confession. His trial was a travesty of justice and he has already spent years in an Indian jail.
Contact: Fair Trials International – 0004420 7762 6400 or 00447950 849 851
Notes to editors
Appeal
After continuous delays and adjournments, Patrick’s appeal was finally heard earlier this month. The Judge today delivered his judgment and upheld Patrick’s unfair conviction. He has not yet delivered his printed judgment and no reasons for the decision have been given.
Background
Patrick travelled to India in October 2003, attending the wedding of British friends and then set off to do some independent travelling. He met up with “J”, another backpacker.
J booked two tickets to Goa via Mumbai. Patrick decided not to go to Goa with J but instead to see more of Rajasthan and meet J in Goa later. As Patrick wanted to travel light he asked J to take with him a bag of dirty washing and some personal effects. J left to catch the train and Patrick remained in the hotel.
Train staff found 3 bags on and under the seats where J and Patrick had reservations, after the train left Delhi. They handed the bags to Kota Police who, upon examining them, found one bag containing Patrick’s dirty clothes, and personal effects. A second bag containing clothing and a third bag containing a large quantity of cannabis resin.
Arrest
Patrick was arrested in January 2004. He was held for months without charge during which time he reports being tortured. He describes how he was flogged with pieces of hard rubber across his body for hours at a time and that he was stripped naked and shackled to a chair while cigarettes were used to burn him and pliers were used on his genitals. Patrick also said he was deprived of sleep for days at a time; cold water was thrown on him when he succumbed to exhaustion.
Patrick was forced to sign documents in Hindi which he did not understand and which contained many blank pages. He was made to read a confession on television, which was picked up by the print media and published.
Trial
Patrick’s trial was held in Hindi despite an application being made to the Court for the case to be heard in English. Patrick’s original lawyer failed to engage a trial interpreter to take his proof of evidence, and also failed to advise on the consequences of not giving evidence. As a result Patrick did not have the opportunity to provide an explanation to counter the circumstantial evidence against him.
A request to explain why DNA evidence was not collected was ignored; the judge failed to ensure that an explanation was provided for not following this obvious line of enquiry. Thereby allowing the case against Patrick to be built on circumstantial evidence alone.
In addition, the trial lawyer did not provide an explanation for why evidence of J’s prior involvement with cannabis resin, in similar quantities, was not raised in court. Considering Patrick’s clean record, this evidence may have proved crucial to his defence.
Patrick was found guilty in July 2006 and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 rupees. J, who was given a separate trial, was acquitted.
Imprisonment
Patrick had already served nearly six years of his sentence, much of it in Kota Jail (Rajasthan). He has shared a cell with 54 other inmates. They sleep head-to-toe on the stone floor.
Patrick’s health has suffered severely while in detention and he has been to hospital a number of times. He has contracted malaria and has rat bites on his body. He also reports suffering from depression due to his ordeal and is receiving treatment for chronic urinary tract infections.