Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1502308
2 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 28 JUNE 2023 2 Legal changes will protect artistic expression from spurious criminal complaints CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Provisions in the two laws that criminalise insults and threats have been used by River of Love pastor Gordon-John Manche re- cently to file police complaints against a comedian and Teatru Malta's artistic director. Both are expected to be charged in court over quips that Manche has in- terpreted as a threat to his safety and that of his community. Criminal proceedings had also been instituted last year by the police on a complaint by Man- che, against a satirist, who said the River of Love church should be relocated to Bugibba and car- pet-bombed. Immediately, following the lat- est round of criminal complaints, government pledged to propose legal amendments to protect the freedom of artistic expression. On Tuesday, Culture Minister Owen Bonnici and Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri un- veiled the proposed wording of the amendments. They will be ta- bled in parliament later on today. With reference to the Crimi- nal Code, the provision crimi- nalising insults and threats will be qualified and include an in- terpretation to "allow for the freedom of artistic expression". The amendment goes further and specifies that the paragraph criminalising insults and threats "shall not hinder artistic, satiri- cal or comic expression which does not include any credible and realistic threat to the per- sonal liberty or security of the complainant or to his property". The references to 'credible' and 'realistic' are meant to give the police and the judiciary elements on how to interpret the threat that is being complained about. A similar amendment is be- ing proposed to the Electronic Communications Act to pre- vent spurious complaints. Government said the objec- tive of the proposed changes is to "enhance the protection of artistic expression" and prevent the "misuse of the criminal jus- tice system for the suppression of such form of expression". Camilleri said government has always fought against cen- sorship, and wants to continue strengthening artistic expres- sion. "Artists cannot be silenced when carrying out their work and treated like criminals," he said. He said government hopes to enact the amendments before parliament's summer recess. The First Reading was passed last week. Bonnici said government will be on the forefront in ensuring artists and creatives are not hin- dered when carrying out their work. "Wide artistic expression is a sign of a strong and healthy so- ciety, and we will not allow any- one to weaponise the law against them," Bonnici said. Better SOPs for police Questioned whether the onus should be on the police to throw out unrealistic reports, Camilleri said they normally act on legal advice given to them. "This does not rule out the need for better standard operat- ing procedures for police when investigating reports made to them," he said. Asked why the amendment has been limited to artists, Bonnici said the change aims to strength- en artistic expression, adding it is important the law continues to protect those who are insulted "ordinarily". "If we just remove everything the police would not be able to intervene when someone who is insulted beyond artistic expres- sion files a report," he said. He said government has struck a balance between protecting people's rights, and protecting artists. "In the same way journalists have certain protection in car- rying out their journalistic duty, such as protection of sources, art- ists will now enjoy certain protec- tion from prosecution," he said. Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri and Culture Minister Owen Bonnici Man convicted of forgery in waste collection contract, alleges prejudice by magistrate MATTHEW AGIUS A businessman who received a suspended sentence for using forged documents while bid- ding for a tender, has claimed that the magistrate who origi- nally found him guilty had ex- pressed prejudice against him, thereby breaching his funda- mental rights. This emerges from an appli- cation filed today before the First Hall of the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction by Adrian Muscat. In separate proceedings in Ju- ly 2022, the directors of Waste Collection Limited, 39-year- old Muscat and his father Mar- ius Muscat, 64, had both been accused of fraud and using a false document to bid for a €335,300 contract. Marius Muscat had been handed a 16-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, while Adrian Muscat received a 22-month sentence, suspended for two years. The sentences were con- firmed by the Court of Crimi- nal Appeal in May. Although separate, the cases against the two men, accused as principal and accomplice, respectively, had moved in tan- dem and the Muscats were "al- ways taken to be co-accused," reads the court application. This affected the admissibility of their testimony against each other. In November 2021, Adrian Muscat's lawyer Matthew Brin- cat had requested the recusal of Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, which the magistrate had refused. He subsequently repeated his request at appeal stage, asking for the case to be declared null and sent back to the Court of Magistrates for a retrial. In the court application, Mus- cat's lawyers argue that the fact that both the Courts of Mag- istrates and the Court of Ap- peal operate out of the same building "did not augur that he would receive a fair hear- ing and that his right to appeal would be truly separate and distinct from the first court's pronouncements." Muscat is accusing magistrate Frendo Dimech of having "ex- pressed her views a priori" dur- ing a sitting, by inviting Muscat to reconsider his position, "as it would be better for him to en- ter an early guilty plea to all the charges against him." The application goes on to state that before the Court of Criminal Appeal, Muscat had alleged that the magistrate had confronted him about his request for her recusal in the corridors of the court building, suggesting he withdraw it. "He insists that the first court should have properly consid- ered his request for recusal, because itself, by its lack of silence, had expressed itself about the guilt of the accused at an early stage, when the Prosecution had not concluded their evidence." The application goes on to state that jurisprudence about recusal requests had estab- lished that justice must be done and be seen to be done. As the ordinary law did not provide a remedy in cases questioning judicial impartiality, Muscat's lawyers invoked the Constitu- tion and the European Conven- tion Act "to provide an oppor- tune remedy if justified." Lawyers Franco Debono and Matthew Xuereb signed the application.