Sant testifies in libel case

The leader of the Labour Party, Alfred Sant yesterday denied going to the referendum counting hall accompanied by 20 to 30 of his "supporters", as was claimed in a letter published in The Times which he claimed to be libellous.

"I insist that when I arrived at the counting hall I was accompanied by Dr George Vella and Dr Joseph Brincat and the people who surrounded us were people who formed part of the referendum process," he said.

Dr Sant took the witness stand before Magistrate Michael Mallia in libel proceedings against The Times editor Raymond Bugeja over the publication of a letter entitled "Uphold democracy", published on April 1.

During his testimony Dr Sant explained that he went to Ta' Qali after receiving a telephone call at the Labour Party headquarters in Hamrun. He drove to the counting hall in his car accompanied by Dr Vella and Dr Brincat alone.

Once he arrived at the gate of the counting hall he passed through the security channels and, he said, at no time was he accompanied by "20 to 30 persons", as was alleged in the letter.

He added that the impression given by the letter was that they had walked in like bullies when in reality it was not true. For this reason he felt libelled.

Dr Sant went on to explain that once through the gate he was surrounded by journalists and cameramen of various sectors of the media. He was not protected by anyone.

Under cross examination he was asked whether he was, at any time, surrounded by a group of men who pushed through the crowd to allow him to pass.

Dr Sant replied that he was surrounded by a number of people but he did not know whether they were making way for him to pass.

He explained that outside the counting hall there was a bigger crowd than there was inside. Inside the hall he could walk normally but there was a crowd there as well, that consisted mainly of journalists, police officers and people involved in the referendum process.

The case continues.