Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/634260
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 31 JANUARY 2016 10 News MATTHEW VELLA THE Malta Gay Rights Movement has sued Ivan Grech Mintoff, who ran for MEP on the ticket of his own eurosceptic formation Alleanza Bidla, for defamatory statements he broadcast on YouTube and on Face- book. The libel suit is the second after the NGO sued pro-life organisation Gift Of Life, for alleging that the gay rights movement was being funded by the American pro-choice organi- sation Planned Parenthood – the largest single provider of reproduc- tive health services, including abor- tion, in the United States. The MGRM said Grech Mintoff's defamatory statements included al- leging on Facebook that an MGRM representative had admitted "taking money from murdered children to fund her own personal agenda"; stat- ing on television that the MGRM "took money from people who killed children"; and suggesting on Face- book that the MGRM were "in bed with the world's foremost abortion promoters". Grech Mintoff is a former chair- man of the adoption board who was not reappointed after he opposed allowing parents in civil unions to adopt children. MGRM also filed a libel lawsuit against Gift Of Life for repeatedly al- leging in various social media posts that the gay rights group was being funded by women's health group Planned Parenthood. MGRM has denied having any ties to Planned Parenthood, and in- stead it declared that in 2010 it had acquired funds from International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) – which is a separate organi- sation to Planned Parenthood – to submit proposals to the government on the introduction of the Gender Identity Act. IPPF is a pro-choice organisation that advocates for women's health rights as well as access to contracep- tion and safe abortion services, and is funded by the European Commis- sion and the United Nations Popula- tion Fund, amongst other organisa- tions. The MGRM said Gift Of Life's dec- larations were false and that it never promoted the introduction of abor- tion to Malta. "MGRM has no posi- tion on abortion, and this issue does not even fall within its aims. These comments are libellous in its regard because they contain false and de- famatory allegations in a bid to put the organisation in disrepute." The Labour government is plan- ning to reintroduce embryo freez- ing after the practice was banned by the Nationalist administration in 2012 when it introduced assisted reproduction on the national health register using only egg freezing tech- nology. Law firm paid €15,000 to help Malta win trapping court case TIM DIACONO THE government has paid €15,000 to global law firm Stibbe to help it win an upcoming Euro- pean court case over its decision to reintroduce finch trapping seasons. It has also paid €495.60 in legal assistance fees to Maltese law firm CCX Advocates, owned by Leonard Caruana – a long-stand- ing legal advisor on hunting and trapping legislation to successive administrations. Parliamentary secretary for ani- mal rights Roderick Galdes told MaltaToday that the legal costs are coming out of revenue col- lected by the government through trapping special licence fees. Data provided by the FKNK would certainly appear to back the government's estimates – 1,584 people currently have a general trapping licence, each of whom would have had to pay an addi- tional €20 every year for a special licence to trap either finches or song thrush and golden plover. This means that the government stands to earn €31,680 a year if every trapper applies for a special licence. "The Attorney General's of- fice is fully involved, and we are treating this case exactly like the spring hunting one," Galdes said, referring to a previous ECJ case against Malta in 2009. Back then Jan Bouckaert – head of Stibbe's planning and environ- mental group in Brussels – had been appointed by the European Hunting Federation (FACE) to assist Malta's then-Attorney General, Silvio Camilleri, in the case. The European Commission will be represented in this case by Maltese lawyer Ken Mifsud Bon- nici and German lawyer Chris- toph Hermes, both legal advisors on environmental law. Finch trapping is prohibited by the EU and was phased out in Malta in 2009, in line with its EU accession treaty. However, the Labour government in 2014 reintroduced the trapping of seven species of wild finches – on the assumption that it can justly derogate from EU law in a similar fashion to spring hunting. Indeed, its legal argument in the upcoming ECJ case will likely ze- ro in on an article in the EU Birds Directive that allows EU member states to derogate from the ban "where there is no other satisfac- tory solution…to permit, under strictly supervised conditions and on a selective basis, the capture, keeping or other judicious use of certain birds in small numbers". However, the European Com- mission has argued that the tra- ditional Maltese use of clap nets is a non-selective trapping style, and that trapping birds for leisure does not constitute a "judicious" reason to derogate. BirdLife Malta intends to assist the EC in its case, but is finding it difficult to obtain crucial govern- ment data on trapping. "We have for several months been asking the Wild Birds Reg- ulation Unit for the number of birds trapped, data that should be updated daily as it's necessary for the government to find out if the quota has been reached and hence whether to prematurely close the season," BirdLife Malta chief executive Mark Sultana told MaltaToday. "We also need to know the lo- cations of trapping sites – how many are in public and private land, farmland or garigue. How- ever, the WBRU keeps telling us that they will provide the infor- mation in due time; they're play- ing a game that raises eyebrows." tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Malta's legal fees will be paid from trapping special licence fees, parliamentary secretary says Eurosceptic in 'baby-killer' slur sued for libel MARTHESE Zarb, the 52-year-old nurse who was involved in a traffic accident in Pembroke last week, has reportedly passed away after succumbing to her injuries. State broadcaster TVM revealed that her family has agreed to do- nate her organs and that the trans- plants are expected to take place in the coming hours. Zarb and her 18-year-old son were passengers in her husband's car when the accident occurred in Triq Sant'Andrija last Saturday, in the collision between their vehicle and a car driven by a 41-year-old man from Zabbar. Zarb, her son, and the other driver all suffered grievous injuries while her husband escaped with slight injuries. Nurse, 52, succumbs to injuries in Pembroke traffic accident Ivan Grech Mintoff Traffic accident victim: Marthese Zarb