Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1542981
The number of abusive law- suits aimed at silencing journal- ists, activists and critics contin- ues to rise across Europe, despite the introduction of a new EU anti-SLAPP law, according to a report published by the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation and the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE). The fourth edition of the An- nual SLAPPs Report, released in 2025 and based on a methodolo- gy developed by the Amsterdam Law Clinics, documents 167 new strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) filed in 2024 alone. This brings the to- tal number of documented cas- es across Europe to 1,303 since 2010, up from 1,049 the previ- ous year. The report notes that the EU's anti-SLAPP directive, which came into force in May 2024 and must be transposed into national law by May 2026, has yet to curb the growing use of such lawsuits. SLAPPs are de- signed to drain defendants' time and resources, while also plac- ing a burden on public justice systems. Early dismissal mech- anisms, the report argues, are essential to ensure courts are not clogged by abusive litigation. To date, no country has achieved full implementation of the standards, with Malta being the only country noted as having "partially implemented" meas- ures. Malta's law is criticised for covering only cross-border cases. Researchers warn that the documented cases represent only the "tip of the iceberg", as many attempts to silence public participation occur before cases ever reach court, through legal threat letters and cease-and-de- sist demands. The chilling effect is compounded in countries where criminal defamation laws remain in force, leaving journal- ists and activists exposed to the threat of imprisonment. At least 91 SLAPP cases were filed in Malta between 2010 and 2024, giving it the highest per-capita rate in the European Union. Malta ranks second over- all for the number of SLAPPs, alongside France, and most of the cases involving Malta are do- mestic rather than cross-border. The report highlights that Malta's current anti-SLAPP leg- islation does not cover domes- tic cases and allows lawsuits to be transferred to a defendant's heirs after their death. It also concludes that Malta transposed the EU directive without going beyond its minimum require- ments, falling short of the hu- man rights standards set by the Council of Europe. Reporting by Nicole Meilak 13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 FEBRUARY 2026 NEWS Police called 12 times over student violence at Pembroke school in four years Parents at St Claire's College in Pembroke had voiced their concern over student violence at their school following a stabbing incident last year. Numbers tabled in parliament support those concerns after the college topped the list of police cases. Kurt Sansone reports. ST Claire's College in Pembroke tops the list of schools where police were called in to investi- gate cases of violence between students, information tabled in parliament shows. The statistics tabled by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camill- eri in response to a question by Opposition MP Graziella Galea, covered the four-year period between 2022 and 2025. St Claire's College in Pem- broke, which houses a middle and secondary school, record- ed 12 such cases where police had to intervene after reports of fighting between students. The same school was the site of a horrific incident last year when a 14-year-old student stabbed another 14-year-old boy several times. The victim was in danger of dying but lat- er recovered. The aggressor was subsequently charged in court with stabbing a school peer and keeping an explosive substance. Police testimony re- vealed that the aggressor had "a Molotov-like substance" in his schoolbag. He pleaded not guilty and his defence claimed that he had been subjected to "years" of bullying. The case is ongoing but sev- eral parents who had spoken to MaltaToday at the time, voiced their concern that this was not a one-off incident in the school. The statistics tabled in parliament give credence to those concerns. Indeed, St Claire's College in Pembroke saw police interven- ing in cases involving students every year between 2022 and 2025. There were four cases in 2022, three in 2023, one case in 2024 and four in 2025. Two other secondary colleges had to deal with police reports every single year in that peri- od—St Benedict's College mid- dle and secondary school in Kirkop and Mosta's Marija Re- gina College secondary school in Żokrija. In total, St Bene- dict's College recorded eight cases of student-on-student violence that required police intervention, while the Mosta school registered six such cas- es, placing second and third re- spectively. Overall, during the period there were 50 cases which re- quired police intervention across Malta's schools. All cas- es concerned middle and sec- ondary schools, apart from one that happened at the post-sec- ondary MCAST campus in Gozo. The statistics show that 44 cases happened in state schools, four cases happened in church schools—the Arch- bishop's Seminary in Rabat, the Bishop's Conservatory in Vic- toria and De La Salle College in Birgu—and one case in an independent school, the Ver- dala International School in Pembroke. No further details were given as to the nationalities of the students involved in these cas- es or whether all cases ended up in court. School Case St Claire's College (Middle/Secondary), Pembroke 12 St Benedict's College (Mid/Sec), Kirkop 8 Marija Regina College (Sec), Mosta (Żokrija) 6 Gozo College (Mid/Sec), Victoria 5 Marija Regina College (Sec), Mosta (Ex- Lilly of the Valley) 3 St Nicholas College (Sec), Dingli 3 Archbishop Seminary, Rabat 2 St Margaret College (Sec), Bormla 2 Verdala International School, Pembroke 2 MCAST, Għajnsielem 2 St George Preca College (Mid/Sec), Hamrun 1 Bishop's Conservatory School, Victoria 1 De La Salle College, Birgu 1 St Thomas More College (Mid/Sec), Żejtun 1 National Sports School, Pembroke 1 TOTAL 50 A 14-year-old student being accompanied to court last December after stabbing a fellow student at the Pembroke secondary school. (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday) Abusive lawsuits continue to rise across Europe despite new EU anti-SLAPP law