If you are arrested in Malta, the police must either release you or bring you before a magistrate within 48 hours, and you are entitled to speak to a lawyer privately before questioning and to have one present during it. The bigger practical problem for most foreigners is not the arrest itself but what comes next: Maltese criminal cases move slowly, and bail for a non-resident almost always means handing over your passport and staying on the islands.
Malta's criminal law is a hybrid, and that catches people out from both directions. The Criminal Code (Chapter 9 of the Laws of Malta) is continental in its structure and drafting, inherited from the Napoleonic tradition. Grafted onto it are features from 164 years of British rule: trial by jury for the most serious charges, an adversarial feel in court, and a body of procedure that will look familiar to anyone from a common-law country. But there is also an inquiring magistrate and a pre-trial stage called the compilation of evidence that has no equivalent in England or Ireland. Expect some of it to feel familiar and some of it not to.
Do I need a lawyer if the police only want to "ask a few questions"?
Yes — and you should ask for one before you say anything, not after. Malta gives an arrested person the right to consult a lawyer privately before interrogation and, since the country implemented the EU directive on access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings, the right to have that lawyer present during questioning. You should also be given a written statement of your rights in a language you understand, and interpretation is provided at no cost to you if you do not follow the language being used.
Two Malta-specific cautions. First, Maltese law contains a provision borrowed from English practice under which a court may, in certain circumstances, take account of an accused person's failure to mention something during questioning that they later rely on at trial. How and when it bites is a matter for your lawyer — but it is a strong reason not to improvise a half-explanation on your own. Second, your embassy or consulate can be told of your arrest if you ask, and Malta is party to the consular notification framework that makes that a right rather than a favour. A consulate cannot get charges dropped, arrange release, or pay for a lawyer; it can pass messages to family, provide a list of local lawyers, and check on conditions. The general shape of that help is covered in our guide on what to do if you are arrested abroad.
How long can I be held, and what happens in the first 48 hours?
The maximum period of police detention without being brought before a court is 48 hours. At the end of it you are either released or arraigned before the Court of Magistrates, where the charges are read out, you enter a plea, and your lawyer makes the first bail request. Release without charge is not the end of the matter: the police can release you while inquiries continue and charge you weeks or months later, and they may keep your passport in the meantime.
Use the first hours well. Do not sign a statement you have not read in a language you actually read. Ask for the names and badge details of the officers present. Tell your lawyer immediately about any medication, any dietary or medical need, and anyone abroad who must be contacted.
Will my case be heard in English?
Possibly. Maltese and English are both official languages of Malta, and the courts conduct business in Maltese as a matter of routine. Where the accused does not understand Maltese, proceedings can be conducted in English under Malta's legislation on the use of the English language in judicial proceedings — this is a real and frequently used option, not a theoretical one. If you speak neither language, you are entitled to a free interpreter and to translation of the essential documents in the case.
Ask your lawyer at the outset which language the record will be kept in. Appeals in Malta are argued on the record of what was said and produced below, so a record you cannot read is a problem you want to solve in week one, not in year two.
How does a Maltese criminal case actually run?
| Court or stage | What it does |
|---|---|
| Court of Magistrates (Criminal Judicature) | Tries less serious offences summarily — a magistrate sitting alone, no jury |
| Court of Magistrates (Court of Criminal Inquiry) | The compilation of evidence: hears prosecution witnesses on serious charges and decides whether there is enough evidence to proceed |
| Criminal Court | Trial by jury for the most serious offences — a judge and a jury of nine |
| Court of Criminal Appeal | Appeals from both the magistrates' level and the Criminal Court |
The compilation stage is the one foreigners find strangest. For an indictable offence the case does not go straight to trial; a magistrate first collects the prosecution's evidence in open court over a series of sittings. Your lawyer can cross-examine there, and what happens at compilation frequently shapes — or ends — the case. Afterwards the Attorney General decides whether to file a bill of indictment.
There is also a decision your lawyer will raise early that matters enormously: many offences that could go to a jury can instead be tried summarily by a magistrate, where the accused consents and the prosecution agrees. Summary trial is usually far faster and carries a lower maximum sentence; giving up a jury is not automatically the right call. That single choice often has more effect on your life than anything else in the file.
Get connected to local criminal defence lawyers who work with foreign clients.
Can I get bail — and can I go home while the case continues?
Bail (ħelsien mill-arrest) is decided by the court, not the police, and for a non-resident the court's central concern is that you will not come back. Conditions typically combine a cash deposit with a larger personal guarantee, an obligation to sign at a named police station on set days, sometimes a curfew, surrender of your passport, and an express prohibition on leaving Malta. Breaching any of them can mean forfeiting the money and being re-arrested.
Courts can later vary conditions and do sometimes allow a defendant to travel with permission, but this is granted case by case and rarely early. Plan on the assumption that you will be in Malta for the duration.
A summary case before a magistrate may take months. A case that runs through compilation of evidence and then a jury trial can take years. Foreigners routinely underestimate this, keep paying rent on a Malta apartment they never planned to have, lose a job abroad, and burn through savings on living costs that dwarf the legal fees. Before you accept a bail package, ask your lawyer for a realistic timeline for your charge and court, and budget for living in Malta for that long — or ask them to seek travel permission as a specific, argued application rather than assuming it will come.
What are foreigners in Malta most often charged with?
- Drug offences. Malta legalised limited personal cannabis use for adults aged 18 and over in late 2021: possession of up to 7 grams in public, keeping up to 50 grams of dried cannabis at home, and cultivating up to 4 plants per household. What did not change matters more for visitors — consuming in public is still penalised, sharing or selling is still trafficking, other controlled drugs are untouched by the reform, and bringing cannabis into Malta from another country is an importation offence, which is prosecuted seriously regardless of how small the quantity is or how legal it was where you bought it.
- Assault, threats and breach of the peace, often arising from nightlife in Paceville and St Julian's.
- Drink-driving. Malta's blood-alcohol limit has been revised in recent years and penalties are stiff; check the current threshold before you drive, and do not rely on what a limit was on an earlier visit.
- Fraud and money laundering. Malta is a financial services, gaming and corporate-services hub, and money laundering can be charged on its own without a conviction for the underlying offence. Directors and beneficial owners of Maltese companies are exposed here in ways they often did not anticipate.
- Document and immigration offences, including false statements in residence or employment paperwork.
How much does a criminal defence lawyer in Malta cost?
There is no fixed national tariff for private criminal defence work in Malta, so quoting a single figure would be misleading. Fees are agreed privately and are usually structured either hourly or stage by stage, and the range is wide: defending a summary charge before a magistrate is a different order of cost from a jury trial in the Criminal Court, which involves months of preparation and continuous attendance.
Ask for the engagement terms in writing before you commit, and ask three specific questions: what the fee covers at each stage, whether the lawyer you meet will personally attend the sittings, and who pays for interpretation and document translation. Malta also operates a state legal aid scheme covering criminal proceedings for those who qualify on means, with a duty legal aid lawyer available at the police station stage; you can start with legal aid and instruct a private lawyer later. Contacting firms through Brisamo is free.
What does a conviction mean for my residence, property or citizenship plans?
More than most people expect. Maltese residence routes, naturalisation and investment-migration programmes all turn on good conduct, and a police conduct certificate is a standard requirement. A pending case — not only a conviction — can stall an application, because certificates and due-diligence checks pick up live proceedings. If you are in the middle of one of the routes described in our guide to Malta residence and citizenship options for foreigners, tell your immigration adviser and your criminal lawyer about each other; they need to coordinate. The same is true if you are mid-transaction on a home, where permits and financing timelines rarely survive an unexplained delay — see our guide to buying property in Malta.
What if I am outside Malta and there is a case against me?
Within the EU, Malta both issues and executes European Arrest Warrants, so leaving for another member state is not an escape route — it usually converts a Maltese case into a surrender hearing in your country of residence, with worse bail prospects. For non-EU countries, Malta works through its extradition legislation and applicable treaties. If an Interpol notice is involved, the mechanics and the challenge routes are set out in our guide on Interpol red notices and arrest. If you are comparing how Malta stacks up against other Mediterranean jurisdictions you may also be dealing with, our guides to criminal defence in Italy and criminal defence in Greece cover the same ground for those systems.
Whatever the stage, get a Maltese lawyer engaged before you make travel decisions. A surrender that follows a negotiated appearance looks very different in front of a bail judge than one that follows an arrest at an airport.
Figures last verified August 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this guide. Criminal procedure, penalties and thresholds change; confirm anything that affects a decision with a lawyer licensed in Malta before acting on it.
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