The Fgura local council has been awarded Lm2,000 damages after a court ruled that a letter published in the Nationalist Party's daily was libellous.

The letter, "Xogholijiet fil-Fgura" (Works in Fgura), was published in "In-Nazzjon" on August 7, 2001.

Anthony Degiovanni and Alex Grima, mayor and secretary of the local council, filed their libel suit against Mark Lombardo, Charles Bonello and Alfred Debono as authors of the letter, and against John Zammit, as the newspaper's editor.

They claimed the letter was libellous for it alleged that the council had failed to carry out public consultations about road works in the locality, including Hompesch Road, and that it had ignored public opinion on this matter.

Defendants pleaded the letter was not libellous as it constituted fair comment.

In its judgment the court noted that the council had felt libelled by the letter on the basis that it diminished its dignity, particularly as it had been written by three local councillors of the same locality. This was in violation of the 1995 code of ethics for councillors.

Magistrate Silvio Meli pointed out that the principal aim of a newspaper was to publish information and ideas on matters of public interest. In order to constitute fair comment, the article had to be both fair and in good faith. No article could be considered as fair comment if it were not based upon true facts. In this case, the authors of the letter had based their letter on a number of points that were not established to be true.

It resulted that any action that might have been taken by the council in respect of the roadworks had been taken in accordance with the council's established procedures.

Furthermore, although the letter claimed that the council had failed to consult with the Traffic Control Board and the Public Transport Authority, it resulted that the two entities had not been constituted at the time in issue. The other authorities that were involved had been regularly consulted by the council.

It also resulted that the council had effectively carried out public consultations on the issue.

Magistrate Meli commented that defendants' plea that the letter constituted fair comment could not be upheld for not only had defendants failed to prove the allegations they made but it had resulted that the opposite was true.

The court ordered all defendants to pay a total sum of Lm2,000 in libel damages to plaintiffs.