Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1532058
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 FEBRUARY 2025 Carmelo's tears, a scorched-earth policy and the fascists Editorial FREEDOM of speech is not absolute, which is why defamation laws exist. No one is entitled to lie about someone else, whether maliciously or unintentional- ly. The difference between the latter and the former is normally reflected in the manner by which the courts determine damages. Defamation damages are capped at a maximum of €11,000. Increasing the cap had been discussed in 2018 when the Media and Defamation Act replaced the Press Act but all sides in the House agreed it should not change to create proportionality between the rights of the victim and not stifling freedom of expression by bankrupting media houses. Today, the Labour government appears hell bent on raising the damages cap and is dishonestly using the pain of one of its own to justify its stand. Singular ex- ponents of the government such as recently co-opted MP Ramona Attard even want the reintroduction of criminal libel. For all her grandstanding that she does not want to send journalists to prison, Attard's yearn- ing for criminal libel to be re-introduced is just that. In its blind pursuit to get back at former MP and lawyer Jason Azzopardi, the Labour government has adopted a scorched-earth approach that spares no one and nothing. Of course, it was wrong and devious for Azzopar- di to tar Carmelo Abela when implicating him in the 2010 HSBC hold-up without having evidence at hand to support the claim. Of course, Azzopardi's behav- iour in this case is condemnable. And that is exactly what the court did when it awarded Carmelo Abela moral damages in the libel case he had filed against Azzopardi. And yes, we do understand Carmelo Abela's fragile emotional state in all this. When he shed tears in par- liament this week, Carmelo Abela was offloading the heavy burden his family and he had to endure while this lie hung on his head and the court decided on his case. But to use this case as a pretext to stifle freedom of expression and reject legal changes that would have strengthened the protection of journalists from domestic SLAPP cases, is a leaf out of the Goebbels handbook. It is dishonest and a sign of government's evident unease with journalists and activists. Justice Minister Jonathan Attard has slept on a promised White Paper on reforms that would strengthen the protection of journalists, which con- trasts with the speed by which government moved from political rhetoric to a Bill that has already passed its First Reading in parliament, in what is described as a clamp down on 'abuse' of magisterial inquiries. Once again, the pain of relatives of victims such as Jean Paul Sofia is being weaponised to target the right of ordinary citizens to request magisterial inquiries. It is dishonest and devious to lump changes that every- one can agree on – granting victims the right to be informed of the progress of an inquiry and the right to be given the magistrate's report free of charge; introducing timeframes to avoid inquiries that keep dragging on forever; introducing better controls on how court experts are chosen – with amendments that stifle the citizen's right to request an inquiry. Once again, the move is right out of the Goebbels handbook. Government's proposed reform will require an or- dinary citizen to file a police report first. It is only af- ter six months that the person can request a judge to review the police investigation and determine whether an inquiry is warranted or whether the po- lice should continue investigating. The level of proof an ordinary citizen is expected to produce must be admissible in a court of law and the decision to pro- ceed with an inquiry will be taken on the balance of probability not mere suspicion. The subtle change makes it incumbent on ordinary citizens to produce proof that is even more onerous than that which the police can have at hand when requesting a magisteri- al inquiry. The very basis of a magisterial inquiry is to search for proof and preserve it, using tools unavaila- ble to ordinary citizens. But the saddest twist in all this is that if a magistrate concludes that the request was vexatious, the person filing the report would be made to pay all court ex- penses, which sometimes run into millions. Government finds it acceptable to introduce a hefty uncapped dissuasive penalty in this circumstance – something that can be debated – but strongly op- poses a similar proposal for a higher capped penalty when it concerns people who file abusive law suits against journalists. The contradiction is incompre- hensible. And yet, this simple fact lifts the mask on govern- ment's true intentions. It is using Jason Azzopardi's misguided penchant to seek inquiries left, right and centre, as the pretext to weaken the right of ordinary citizens to request a magisterial inquiry when they suspect wrongdoing. In 2006, Labour MPs accused the Nationalist gov- ernment of adopting fascist amendments when To- nio Borg suggested changing the manner by which magisterial inquiries could be requested. Eventually, Borg withdrew the amendments and new safeguards were introduced that were agreed by both sides of the House. We just wonder who is playing the fascist game today. Quote of the Week "I'm mentioning my mum because I want to recognise her and other women who could have done more and from whom the country could have benefitted from, but were not allowed to do more." Newly co-opted Labour MP Ramona Attard during her maiden speech in parliament. She thanked her parents, particularly her mother and all women who over the years made it possible for people like her to be in parliament. MaltaToday 10 years ago 1 February 2015 Castille fumes at Brussels's choice for Malta representative WITH Malta still reeling from a chid- ing from European Commissioner Viviane Reding and news of legal steps against its citizenship sale (page 9) the government may be set for a new clash over the imminent appointment of Joanna Dar- manin – the head of Commissioner Tonio Borg's cabinet – as the EC's head of rep- resentation in Malta. Darmanin has been the top aide to Malta's three commissioners since 2004, having started her career by the side of then Na- tionalist parliamentary secretary Joe Borg, right up to his appointment as commis- sioner in Brussels. Now undertaking the EU's 'concour' so that she secures a perma- nent posting in the European civil ser- vice, Darmanin is said to be replacing Mar- tin Bugelli as the Commission's liaison in Malta. While an official call for applications for the said post is yet to be made, the Commission's representations in member states fall under the guidance of Viviane Reding, the commissioner responsible for justice and citizenship. "There is an unspo- ken rule that the Commission consults with the government of the day over such an ap- pointment," the Office of the Prime Minis- ter told MaltaToday in an official comment. "We have evidence that this is what happened in the past, so that is what should happen today. The decision stays firmly within the Commission's remit, but we expect to be treated no differently from previous administrations and other coun- tries." The government itself learned of the 'planned' appointment through its own sources in the Commission.