Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1501675
10 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 JUNE 2023 River of charges: Legal experts insist police RIVER of Love pastor Gor- don-John Manché is on the war path and is taking anyone who pokes fun at him to court. On Monday, it was revealed that stand-up comedian Daniel Xuereb was set to be charged in relation to the comments he made about Manché during a comedy skit. Speaking to MaltaToday, Manché described the skit as one which encourages vio- lence because Xuereb referred to a comment made by satirist Matt Bonanno earlier this year in which he joked that River of Love should be carpet-bombed. Manché also filed a police report against Bonanno and the case is ongoing. But on Friday, Malta woke up to learn that Teatru Malta artis- tic director Sean Buhagiar was questioned by the police for re- peating previous quips from sat- irists against River of Love pas- tor Gordon-John Manché. In 2016, Parliament approved, amendments to the Criminal Act that repealed legislation that censured the vilification of reli- gion. The law punishing the vilifica- tion of the Roman Catholic reli- gion had been in place since 1933 and was used by the authorities to censor works of art, theatre productions and even prevent films from being screened. But in the wake of Manché's police reports citing misuse of communication and referring to an article of law that criminalis- es insults and threats, freedom of speech campaigners started questioning whether the evan- gelical community leader has found a loophole in Malta's leg- islation. Another question raised is whether the police should sim- ply turn down such requests if it results that they are baseless because the subject matter be- ing complained about is clearly satirical. What are the charges? Satirist Matt Bonanno fac- es criminal charges and up to €50,000 in fines over a Facebook post from last year about evan- gelical Christian group River of Love. The incident occurred on 4 January, when Bonanno made a satirical Facebook post stating that River of Love "should be treated exactly like ISIS". After this, one of his friends com- mented that "I don't think Mal- ta can afford a sustained aerial bombing campaign on Żebbuġ", which is where River of Love used to be based. Bonanno responded with: "And Żebbuġ is pretty nice. Re- locate River of Love to Buġibba, then carpet bomb. Two birds with one stone." He later an- nounced on his platform that police filed charges against him and his Facebook friend for vi- olating two clauses of the Elec- tronic Communications law. Xuereb is being charged like Matt Bonanno regarding the misuse of electronic equipment and making "insults or threats." The 30-year-old comedian had a joke linked to comments Man- ché made about anal sex during a River of Love sermon. While discussing topics of sex and mar- riage, Manché said that "anal sex is an abomination". During the comedy show, Xuereb picked up on Manché's "rant" about the sins relating to anal sex. "We need to listen to what he has to say. I think he is right; I think he is right. As Mal- ta's biggest asshole, I think he knows what he is talking about." Sean Buhagiar was reported to the police in relation to a Face- book post where he called the pastor an 'asshole'. "Gordon-John Manché, also known as Malta's biggest ass- hole, kindly refrain from inter- fering with satire, or we may be compelled to relocate the River of Love to Buġibba and carpet bomb!" he said. Are police obliged to charge? Activists and observers have questioned whether the police should have turned down Man- ché's request on the basis that it was an attempt to silence artists and their expression. MaltaToday reached out to the Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa on the matter. "The police received a criminal complaint and after legal advice, were bound to proceed with charges in court," a spokesper- son replied. Questions on the official police policy in dealing with complaints that have to do with religious insult, or complaints related to artistic expression remained un- answered. But the sentiment expressed by the police was also shared by other legal minds. Lawyer Veronique Dalli said that police cannot take it upon themselves to determine wheth- er one is guilty of an offence when receiving a criminal com- plaint. It is up to the court to de- liver that judgment upon evalu- ating the facts of the case. "You also must take the wider context in which criminal com- plaints related to threats are made. There are different types of threats, and you have to un- derstand in what situation they were made," Dalli said. She pointed out that the law states what the elements of a crime are and cannot have strict definitions of what constitutes a threat. "God, forbid it did. A threat could be made verbally in person or online and the fine established by law in case an ac- cused is found guilty of the latter are far heftier." The lawyer said threats are dif- ferent from one situation to the other. It's the criminal intent which the prosecution has to prove, backed up with evidence. Clearly, the criminal intent in these cases is amiss. Opposition home affairs spokesperson Joe Giglio echoed Dalli's statements, saying the police cannot reject a report. "If there is a request, they have to proceed, and it is then decided by the court." He did admit it was a provision that has been "abused" by indi- viduals and said there is nothing wrong with deciding on a wider reform. Blogger Mark Camilleri, who had been at the forefront of the crusade to remove censorship laws said it wasn't typical that harassment laws and the Elec- tronic Communications Act were used to suppress satire. "It seems to be the new way and the police are interpreting the law accordingly," Camilleri said. "Under this Labour government Pastor Gordon-John Manché has asked police to take criminal action against a comedian and artistic director over comments they made about him. KARL AZZOPARDI tries to understand whether police can simply dismiss the complaint considered frivolous by many. River of Love pastor Gordon-John Manché has asked police to charge a comedian and artistic director over what he claims are threats directed at him