Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/753405
Newspaper post €1.40 Tickets www.masquerademalta.com Written by Malcolm Galea Directed by anthony bezzina Music directed by Kris Spiteri December 23 rd 2016 to January 8 th 2017 maltatoday 14 15 'They broke my bones, but I broke the barrier of fear' maltatoday YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT BOGDANOVIC DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASE PAGE 2 SEE PAGES 10-12 INTERVIEW INSIDE Exiled Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat 8 9 13 Former Labour deputy leader finally confirmed as judge 8 PAGES OF MOTORING Toni Abela Deborah Schembri today today SUNDAY • 20 NOVEMBER 2016 • ISSUE 889 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Name of person who called about Bogdanovic arrest revealed POLICE Assistant Commission- er Carmelo Magri, who is based at the police HQ in Floriana, has been indicated by MaltaToday journalists Saviour Balzan and Matthew Vella as the police of- ficial who personally contacted the Gozo police station to talk to senior officers about Daniel Bogdanovic's arrest. Bogdanovic, a former Malta international, was arrested for threatening his Maltese wife and being in possession of a gun outside his Ghajnsielem resi- dence a day before he was ex- pected to play a Xewkija Tigers match against Kercem in Gozo. It was Bogdanovic's wife and her brother – Ghajnsielem foot- baller Ferdinando Apap – who filed a criminal complaint with the police on threatening mo- bile phone messages that Bog- danovic allegedly sent her, and which led to the player's arrest. The internal inquiry launched by the government, headed by former army commander Car- melo Vassallo to determine the facts of the case, was expected to hear how Bogdanovic, ar- rested at 7.30pm on Saturday, 29 October, was released on police bail the following day, Sunday, to allow him to play at 3pm that afternoon. Bogdanovic was sub- sequently arraigned under ar- rest in the Gozo court on Mon- day morning. In a signed statement by the MaltaToday journalists sent on Friday evening to Home Affairs minister Carmelo Abela, Balzan and Vella said: "We were not asked to appear in front of the inquiry board headed by former Brigadier Car- melo Vassallo so we have decid- ed to submit a written declara- tion with the sequence of events about the whole event." In their three-page detailed declaration, the two journalists stated that Assistant Commis- sioner Magri had contacted a senior police officer to ask about the circumstances linked to the Bogdanovic arrest. In their deposition Balzan and Vella said that the interest by Magri in the fate of Bogdanovic could only be due to the fact that Bogdanovic, a star player with Xewkija Tigers, was due to play a game the following day and that Magri had been informed of the arrest by a political figure from Gozo. It was police assistant commissioner Carmelo Magri (inset) who contacted the Gozo police station on learning that Bogdanovic had been arrested RATE THE MINISTER SURVEY Fearne flies high, traffic woes keep Mizzi at the bottom DESPITE being promoted to min- ister only in April, Chris Fearne is the most popular minister in this year's Rate the Minister survey. The health minister enjoys a 52.3% approval rate, slightly edg- ing out education minister Evarist Bartolo and tourism minister Ed- ward Zammit Lewis. At the other end of the table, transport minister Joe Mizzi re- mains the least positively rated, with only 24.3% of respondents giving him a favourable rating. Fearne's predecessor and district rival, Konrad Mizzi, sank from fifth place, when he was still min- ister for health and energy, to the penultimate place after seeing his positive rating shrink by 18 points. Manuel Mallia also fares badly, with just 28.8% of respondents giv- ing him a favourable rating, put- ting him in the penultimate posi- tion together with Konrad Mizzi. 52.3% 24.3%