Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1290275
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 SEPTEMBER 2020 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications PN road to unity BOTH leadership candidates should start their election campaign with a clear and sincere public declaration that each will mutually support and pledge loyalty to whoever is elected as leader. Each candidate should urge who- ever votes for him to do likewise. This should be followed by a similar pledge from the Nationalist Members of Parliament and Members of all organs within the party. Prof. Joseph Azzopardi MD Via email What due diligence? AT the risk of echoing the Labour line on the PN, the week's proceed- ings on the due diligence carried out on Adrian Delia and Bernard Grech really shows, at the very least, that neither candidate is leadership ma- terial. Once again, Malta's crop of polit- ical minds is hailing from the legal class, history's most professional fixer and middleman. They were dealt with kids' gloves by the PN's high-minded commit- tee of verification, which itself just shows how ill-equipped the PN is in upholding its own standards! The mind boggles. Of course, one may take little com- fort from the Labour end. But just what kind of politicians do we expect to lead us: the ones who reflect our prejudices and can be kind towards our own peccadilloes (VAT evasion among them); or the ones who can guide us to be better citizens? Should the latter think of entering the political game, I wish them luck. Joseph Vella Birkirkara Role of defence lawyer THE Chamber of Advocates notes with disappointment certain reports in sections of the media, as well as on "social media", which unfortunately provide a misguided impression of how judicial procedures are conducted and as a result, become the source of public misinformation. In certain instances, several nega- tive reactions being generated vis-a- vis members of the legal profession are a function of a lack of under- standing of the role of the lawyer and the judicial process. The Chamber of Advocates reit- erates, that it is a fundamental right of every person to be assisted by a lawyer of his or her choice and to be defended and represented at every stage of the judicial process. The lawyer is an active partici- pant throughout the whole judicial process in representation of his client's interests, and should not be implicates with the alleged or actual misdeeds of his client nor to be the subject of criticism just because the lawyer is representing a client and carrying out his duty towards a de- fendant. It is unacceptable that represent- ing certain clients is perceived as something that a lawyer should be ashamed of. The Chamber of Advocates be- lieves that for the rule of law to truly prevail, it is essential that all lawyers are allowed to carry out their profes- sional duties freely, and without fear of feeling intimidated or threatened. The legal profession, the judiciary and the judicial process, is not and indeed should not be immune to crit- icism, however, even when criticism is levelled it should be guided by a sense of maturity and that in each and every case, reporting should pro- vide a full and comprehensive picture of the process in a clear, complete and factual manner. Chamber of Advocates