Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1172978
5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 OCTOBER 2019 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS CHIEF Justice Joseph Azzo- pardi had harsh criticism for journalists as he gave his an- nual speech marking the start of the court calendar. Azzopardi was addressing as- sembled members of the judi- ciary and the legal profession in Hall 22 of the law courts this morning. "As someone recently wrote in a local newspaper, it is easy to attack members of the judi- ciary because you know they can't answer you," he said. His speech was addressed to "those persons who every now and then send some questions to my secretariat and ask for a reply (if you please, by a certain date that they fix themselves)". Azzopardi continued: "I say persons because I exclude from these those true journal- ists, professionals, who know what they should and should not ask. To these persons who ask questions that should not be asked by 'true' and serious journalists, I say: please there- fore understand that we aren't the politicians or chairmen of parastatal bodies that you nor- mally send questions to and expect an answer." The Code of Ethics for the judiciary prevented them from answering, he said, pointing out that every word they said could lead to their recusal from cases that come before them. "And our obligation isn't to abstain but to decide cases," Azzopardi said. Without making direct refer- ence to MaltaToday, Azzopar- di also insisted that proceed- ings concerning members of the judiciary in the Commis- sion for the Administration must, according to law, be held in chambers and not in public. He noted with displeasure that recently the disciplinary committee had decided a case and the complainant had been notified. "You all know what happened next. Before the de- cision arrived before the Com- mission for the Administration of Justice, this appeared in the newspapers. Presumably the complainant had rushed to the newspaper, which gave no heed to the order that it not be published. This without any- one taking into account that an appeal had been tabled before the Commission," Azzopardi said. In the same way as the judici- ary could not arbitrarily decide not to follow the law, neither could the press. "Nobody has the right to decide to ignore the law because he feels it is unjust. If the law is anachro- nistic or outdated, it should change and not be broken." Azzopardi was presumably referring to a MaltaToday re- port last August that Magis- trate Joe Mifsud had been rep- rimanded by the Commission for the Administration of Jus- tice over an ethics breach. The newspaper decided to report the outcome of the case decided by the commission be- cause it was in the public inter- est to know when members of the judiciary are disciplined. In other comments, the Chief Justice, who is also the vice president of the Commission for the Administration of Jus- tice, a constitutional body that disciplines the judiciary, said that some opinions could only be expressed after retirement. "This all means that today I cannot speak about very im- portant material that I know some of you are expecting me to speak about, and that is the appointment of members of the judiciary, because before our courts there is a case deal- ing with this material," Azzo- pardi said. This type of controversy was nothing new, he said, pointing to the autobiography of Sir Ar- turo Mercieca, who had writ- ten about it in the 1920s and 30s. Chief Justice lays into press for pushing envelope on court rules Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi MATTHEW AGIUS A man has been accused of brutally beating up his girl- friend inside the Naxxar police station. The 36-year-old from Cospicua was arraigned un- der arrest before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli, accused of grievously injuring the wom- an, attacking her, breach- ing the peace, insulting and threatening her and causing her to fear violence. He was also accused of at- tacking a police inspector and two officers, insulting them and threatening them with a view to influencing them and disobeying legitimate police orders. The man, who is not being named in order to protect his alleged victim, is understood to have repeatedly punched the woman in the street in Naxxar on 29 September, fol- lowing her to the police sta- tion where she went to file a report, where he continued to beat her up in full view of the police, who intervened and stopped him. He pleaded not guilty and asked for bail. Prosecuting Inspectors Eman Hayman and Clayton Camilleri objected to the re- quest, saying the accused was untrustworthy. The woman had gone to the police station covered in blood, said the inspector. The accused had sworn in his presence that he would get revenge on whoever took steps against him, he added. Lawyer Franco Debono, however, criticised the pros- ecution's handling of the case. "I would expect that the prosecution would say that the man had a hand- wound at the time, caused by a smashed glass and that the woman had tried to make him crash on the Coast Road by grabbing the steering wheel, but no." "The first thing he did in front of the police was attack the woman," said the inspec- tor. "He drove from Naxxar to Cospicua. The journey itself should have given him the opportunity to rethink the issue, but instead, he hardened his resolve." The court granted the man bail against a deposit of €6,000 and personal guaran- tee of €8,000, ordering him to observe a curfew and sign a bail book every day. Lawyer Amadeus Cachia also appeared for the man. Violent man brutally beat girlfriend inside Naxxar police station