Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1512115
16 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 NOVEMBER 2023 8 December - 7 January from 18:00 till 22:30 Including extended Christmas Market at Villa Bighi showshappening.com Tickets from MALTA'S two hunting lobby groups fought it out in a court- room over an allegedly defama- tory Facebook comment, which saw the claim filed by the FKNK against 'rivals' Kaċċaturi San Ubertu thrown out. Chief hunting lobby FKNK, through CEO Lino Farrugia and President Lucas Micallef, sued for libel KSU head Mark Mifsud Bonnici, over a Facebook com- ment published by the latter on a third party's personal profile page. The allegation was that after the government had declared Qawra Point a natural reserve in response to the umpteenth case of poaching, Mifsud Bonnici al- leged that the decision was a 'set- off' against the proposed desig- nation of Miżieb and Mellieħa's l-Aħrax as hunting reserves. The FKNK's bosses sued for defamation, claiming there had been no such negotiations as al- leged, nor had they desired that Qawra Point no longer be used for hunting. But Lino Farrugia went further, claiming rather specifically that as the financial controller of the FKNK, the audited accounts had shown that the hunting federa- tion had lost revenues from de- parting members. But Farrugia never supplied the accounts to prove his claim of forfeited membership dues, to prove that FKNK members had 'defected' over to the St Hubert fraternity. In fact, the Court said that as a non-profit organisation, the FKNK could not qualify as a plaintiff under Maltese defama- tion law, because the Media and Defamation Act applies to indi- viduals or for-profit societies. "A body corporate cannot suffer damages in its social relations or emotional status through de- famatory statements but can suf- fer financial losses by a decrease in the value of its assets, or goodwill, which ultimately mean a loss in profits," Magistrate Ra- chel Montebello said. The Court said, "the require- ment that serious financial loss must be caused or be likely, rec- ognises that such bodies, unlike human beings, can only be dam- aged in their pocket and conse- quently an injury must sound in money." Since the FKNK was a non-profit, it could not suffer financial loses, or goodwill or financial depreciation. "Even if a defamatory statement was made, this could not be an actionable claim for the FKNK at law," the Court said. Additionally, the Court found that Mifsud Bonnici's allega- tion was not, in the mind of any right-thinking person, impugn- ing the FKNK with irregular conduct. "Liability for libel does not depend on the intention of the defamer, but on the fact of defamation," Montebello said, citing the perennial Gatley On Libel And Slander. The magistrate added that the FKNK could not successfully argue that the allegation shows they had "conspired" with the government to the detriment of their members. "The Court does not think this is either realistic or objectively deducible by the reasonable and ordinary reader." Montebello went on to say that "right-thinking members of the public understand that a bal- ance and compromise must be achieved between the conflict- ing interests of hunters on one side, and environmental conser- vation on the other. This means that in the eyes of the public, the declaration of Qawra Point as a natural reserve could not be per- ceived as some act of betrayal to- wards FKNK members." No proof FKNK lost members to rivals in Facebook defamation Hunting lobby group FKNK took aim at its rival St Hubert's Hunters but lost the defamation suit over claims Qawra Point natural reserve was a set-off for Mizieb and l-Ahrax hunting grounds MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt