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MW 17 January 2018

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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 17 JANUARY 2018 News 2 DAPHNE Caruana Galizia was remem- bered last night by a small crowd of people who gathered at the Great Siege monu- ment in Valletta that has become a make- shift shrine for the slain journalist. Candles with messages written on them, calling for justice to be served, were placed at the foot of the monument. Activist Ma- nuel Delia also read out a message. One of the messages pasted to the foot of the monument read: "She was murdered because she mattered." Other messages depicted Caruana Galizia's last words on her blog: "The situation is desperate." Candles for Daphne Caruana Galizia at Valletta memorial Three months to the day after Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered, people paid tribute to the slain journalist at the makeshift memorial in front of the Valletta law courts YANNICK PACE NATIONALIST MP Jason Azz- opardi, deputy party leader Da- vid Agius and Opposition whip Robert Cutajar have presented a private members' Bill to out- law the use of SLAPP lawsuits against the Maltese press. A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defence until they abandon their criticism or opposition. The tactic is employed by rich organisations that use the threat of expensive lawsuits in foreign courts to force news or- ganisations to cave in to pres- sure, and was recently used by the private bank Pilatus as well as citizenship experts Henley & Partners. Addressing a press confer- ence before presenting the Bill to the speaker, Agius said the Bill was intended to prevent other organisations from using SLAPP lawsuits against local media organisations. "It is the repression of the free press, and we believe the Mal- tese parliament should protect freedom of expression," said Agius. The proposed law, which was written by Azzopardi, seeks to make any judgement of any court outside Malta, on alleged defamation, handed down against Maltese residents, to be considered "contrary to the public policy or to the internal public law of Malta" when the defendant would not have de- fended the case on its merits in the foreign court. In a second amendment, this time to the Press Act, the Bill proposes that it shall be a mat- ter of the public policy of Malta that proceedings in respect of any publication, made by a per- son or entity normally resident or domiciled in or operating within Malta, shall be brought in a Maltese court and that these courts will have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and deter- mine such proceedings "irre- spective of whether the publi- cation in question is hosted or otherwise broadcast from serv- ers located outside Malta". "If a court abroad hands down a sentence regarding abortion, for example," explained Azzo- pardi, "this can't be executed in Malta, because it goes against internal public policy". Similarly, he said, the pro- posed amendments would pre- vent sentences regarding defa- mation and libel handed down in foreign jurisdictions, from being executed in Malta. Azzopardi stressed that Mal- ta was a sovereign country, and that any entity that wished to sue someone for libel could do so in Maltese courts. Finally, he said he hoped to government would support the initiative, adding that it was unacceptable for Maltese me- dia organisations to have had to remove articles from their archives simply because they were threatened by large cash- rich foreign companies. Nationalist MPs table anti-SLAPP Bill to stop bullying of Maltese press Nationalist MPs Jason Azzopardi and David Agius present private members' Bill to prevent plaintiffs from using damaging lawsuits brought in foreign courts to cow Maltese press PN MPs David Agius and Jason Azzopardi (from left), and Clyde Puli

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