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UM academic to lead Council of Europe’s drafting of AI Criminal Law Treaty

The University of Malta has solidified its standing at the forefront of international legal policy with the election of Prof. Stefano Filletti as President of the Working Group on Artificial Intelligence and Criminal Law (AICL). The election took place in Strasbourg under the auspices of the Council of Europe’s European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC).

Prof. Filletti, who serves as the Head of the Department of Criminal Law at the University of Malta, will now chair the high-level body responsible for drafting binding international legal standards that will govern how criminal justice systems across Europe interact with artificial intelligence.

Under Prof. Filletti’s presidency, the working group is mandated to draft a new legal instrument (likely to take the form of a Convention or Protocol) that addresses three urgent pillars:

Criminal Liability of AI Systems: Determining who is criminally responsible—the user, the programmer, or the manufacturer—when an AI system causes harm (e.g., a self-driving car causing a fatality or a medical bot making a lethal error).

AI-Facilitated Crime: Addressing new forms of criminal conduct enabled by AI, such as "deepfake" fraud, automated cyber-attacks, and data manipulation.

AI in Judicial Administration: Establishing safeguards for the use of AI within the justice system, such as predictive policing algorithms and risk-assessment tools used in sentencing, to ensure they do not violate fundamental human rights or due process.

Why this matters: Without clear international rules, there is a risk that "black box" AI decisions could leave victims without justice. The instrument being drafted under Prof. Filletti’s leadership aims to ensure that no technological advancement places an entity above the law.

Synergy with the Framework Convention: This new criminal law instrument is designed to complement the broader Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, ensuring that while the Framework sets general human rights principles, the AICL’s work provides the specific "teeth" required for enforcement in criminal courts.

A Bridge Between Academia and Policy Prof. Filletti’s dual role as a practicing criminal lawyer and a leading academic allows him to bring a pragmatic yet rigorously theoretical perspective to the drafting table.

At the University of Malta: He leads the Department of Criminal Law, where his research focuses on the interplay between European and domestic criminal law.

At the Council of Europe: He has served as the Head of the Maltese Delegation to the CDPC and was previously elected to its Bureau, earning the trust of delegates from across the 46 member states.

Impact on the University: This appointment directly benefits the University of Malta community. It places the Faculty of Laws at the cutting edge of global legal development, ensuring that students are exposed to the very latest debates and legislative trends before they are even enacted into law. It also highlights Malta's capacity to punch above its weight in international diplomacy and legal scholarship.