Lassana Cissé case: acquitted of murder, sentenced to eight years on other charges

Cissé, a 42-year-old man from Côte d’Ivoire, was shot dead in Ħal Far in 2019, in what is considered Malta’s first alleged racist murder. The jury acquitted former soldier Lorin Scicluna of the murder by 8 votes to 1, but found him guilty of seriously injuring another man that same year, and the judge sentenced him to eight years in prison. She explained that a prosecution error limited the maximum sentence to nine years instead of twelve. The African community asks “who protects us?”, the Home Affairs Minister said the verdict leaves “a bad taste in the mouth”, and 80 academics and the Chamber of Advocates are calling for a review of the jury system.