Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1523079
3 maltatoday | THURSDAY • 26 JUNE 2024 NEWS MALTATODAY is among four Maltese news outlets which are now banned in Russia. In a statement on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry said that it would be banning 81 news outlets in a number of EU member states. This, the minis- try explained, was being done in response to a European Council decision to ban the broadcast of three Russian media outlets. This decision, effective today, is aimed at media outlets that Russia accuses of disseminating false information regarding its "special military operation." Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reiterated that this move is a direct reaction to what it perceives as politically moti- vated actions against Russian journalists and media within the EU. According to Moscow, these actions, which include banning Russian media, are seen as unjustified and have com- pelled Russia to respond with similar measures. "Responsibility for such a de- velopment of events lies solely with the leadership of the Euro- pean Union and the countries of this association that supported such a decision." Russia argues that these coun- tries have chosen a confron- tational path, leaving Moscow with no choice but to implement countermeasures to protect its media outlets and journalists. The three other Maltese out- lets banned in Russia are TVM, Times of Malta and The Malta Independent. MaltaToday among four Maltese media outlets banned in Russia MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Repubblika tells EU Court Zammit Lewis unsuited for role of judge over Fenech texts CIVIL society group Repubbli- ka has called on the European Court of Justice to turn down the nomination of former jus- tice minister Edward Zammit Lewis to the post of judge, citing the slew of WhatsApp messages he had exchanged with Caruana Galizia assassination master- mind Yorgen Fenech. Repubblika president Vicki Cremona told the Article 255 panel that Zammit Lewis's elec- tion as candidate to the Europe- an Court of Justice would tar- nish the Court's reputation and compromise its responsibility to be perceived as a bulwark to the rule of law. She said the former Labour minister was unsuited to the post after it was revealed that he had been in contact with Yorgen Fenech, even when it emerged in press investigations in November 2018 that Fenech was the owner of a Dubai com- pany identified as the source of unlawful payments to the secret Panama companies of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri. "The candidate maintained an intimate correspondence with Fenech. At the time when it had become clear that Fenech had both the motivation and the resources to have ordered the killing of Daphne Carua- na-Galizia, the candidate tex- ted, over an extended period of time, dozens of messages to Fenech." Repubblika said Zammit Lew- is had already publicly defended Mizzi and Schembri when they were exposed by the Panama Papers for having set up illegal offshore accounts. Cremona added that the for- mer minister had accepted Fenech's hospitality when trav- elling by private jet together with then prime minister Jo- seph Muscat and staying at an Evians-les-bains hotel owned by Fenech. "Despite at first deny- ing this fact, records in Fenech's phone, captured by the police, contradicted the candidate's version of events." "It is our view that during his career, the candidate has demonstrated an appalling lack of judgement, an unwillingness to act with conscience and pre- serve the rule of law while in public office, and a willingness to retain inappropriate and se- cret relationships despite the manifest conflict between those relationships and his ethical and constitutional duties as a holder of public office," Cremona told the Article 255 panel. "The election of the candidate to the European Court of Justice would, in our view, tarnish the Court's reputation and compro- mise its responsibility to be per- ceived as a bulwark to the rule of law." Cremona said Zammit-Lew- is had been handpicked by the prime minister as "a form of compensation" for the prime minister's earlier decision to leave him out of his cabinet of ministers. "It has become a regular oc- currence in Malta for the prime minister to hand out offices of state as gifts and sinecures to secure the support of political allies or potential political ene- mies. "Following the case brought by Repubblika at the European Court of Justice, and the gov- ernment's decision to change the constitution before the rul- ing of the Court, posts on the Maltese judiciary are no longer in the gift of the prime minister. We find it unacceptable that the prime minister now uses posts on the bench in Luxembourg as gifts they might give for politi- cal purposes." Repubblika president Vicki Cremona tells Article 255 panel that Zammit Lewis's election would tarnish Court's reputation and compromise its responsibility to be perceived as a bulwark to the rule of law Former minister Edward Zammit Lewis at the PBS studios for the BA press conference. Photo: James Bianchi