Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1061063
24 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 12 DECEMBER 2018 The 26-year old was sentenced to six years in prison for rape TVM reported last night that a young man was found dead at the Corradino Cor- rectional Facility. He was 26 years old. This was just a day after he set foot in prison. He had been reportedly sentenced for six years impris- onment on charges of rape. An inquiry is cur- rently ongoing. Inmate found dead at Corradino facility one day after being incarcerated Foreign minister's aide calls PEN activist a 'biased shithole' during UN meeting THE private secretary to Malta's foreign minister Carmelo Abela – Sandro Mangion – has been ac- cused of calling a member of PEN International a "biased shithole", at a United Nations meeting in Mo- rocco. Various organisations among them PEN, the European Fed- eration of Journalists, and Aditus Foundation, are demanding an im- mediate investigation into the ver- bal abuse of Sarah Clarke, advocacy manager of PEN International at the UN Global Compact on Migra- tion, in Marrakesh, Morocco. The incident occurred at the high level event to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Carmelo Abela's intervention on behalf of Malta focused on the right to freedom of expression, noting, "not only do we believe freedom of thought and expression is a universal right, but its defence is the sustainment of an intangible right which should be enjoyed by all humanity." On her part, Sarah Clarke urged the foreign minister to substantiate the content of his speech by imme- diately instituting a public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. "I stressed that should the government of Malta seek legitimacy and credibility in relation to freedom of expression they should immediately conduct a public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, as per the longstanding ad- vice of the coali- tion of the world's leading freedom of expression organisa- tions," Clarke said. But PEN said that Abela's private secre- tary, Sandro Mangion, then told Clarke she was a "biased shithole", following accusations from Abela himself who said Clarke was igno- rant of the facts of the case and had not spoken to the authorities. PEN said these comments were repeated despite the fact that Clarke had stressed she had recently visit- ed Malta as part of an international mission of NGOs on the occasion of the anniversary of Daphne Caru- ana Galizia's assassination. "We condemn this behaviour as part of what we observe as a grow- ing trend of Maltese public officials harassing female activists advocat- ing for justice for the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia," PEN and various other organisations said. "Mr Mangion's behaviour is un- acceptable and the Maltese government must hold him to account. We demand an imme- diate apology. And we ask the UN to include this inci- dent in the UNSG annual report on re- prisals." Minister's aide reacts Asked to explain his actions, Sandro Mangion took umbrage at Clarke's decision to use the high-level event to "launch unfounded claims" against the Foreign Minister in relation to the Caruana Galizia murder case. He apologised for the choice of words and insisted he was not re- ferring to Clarke herself but to the "unscrupulous network" that was feeding her unproven allegations. "I think some context needs to be provided: Ms Clarke came to sit on one of the chairs reserved for Malta at the event and asked me for a copy of the Minister's speech, to which request I obliged. She then started launching accusations at Malta's Foreign Minister. Each time he attempted to give a reply, she was not interested in listening and simply kept throwing back at him the same allegations," Man- gion said. He added that at one point, Abela rose and started walking towards the exit to leave for the next ap- pointment, with Clarke in tow. "It was at that point that, as I felt she was acting in an inappropri- ate manner and that she should have engaged the minister outside, calmly, I uttered the words "bi- ased" and "shithole" in a low voice. I apologise profusely if any offence was taken, but I was certainly not referring to Sarah Clarke herself. I used those words to refer to the unscrupulous network by which she is obviously being fed unproven allegations that she kept parroting without having bothered to check her facts," Mangion insisted. He then asked the newspaper whether it will also ask Clarke whether she will apologise for her attitude and behaviour towards a government minister at a UN event. "The Foreign Minister has never shied away from conversations of this kind - she could have sought a private conversation, if indeed she was interested in getting answers to her allegations," Mangion said. Sandro Mangion