George Vella testifies in Sant libel case

Labour Party former deputy leader George Vella yesterday said that the content of a letter published in The Times was not true as party leader Alfred Sant never entered the referendum counting hall accompanied by 20 to 30 persons.

Dr Vella 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" that was published on April 1.

He explained that on the day of the referendum result he went to Ta' Qali with Dr Sant and Dr Joseph Brincat alone. Once they arrived they were surrounded by a crowd of people, mostly local and foreign journalists, who pushed to get a comments from Dr Sant.

The crowd included police officers and Labour Party officials who were authorised to be there, such as Jimmy Magro and Alfred Grixti, he said.

At the end of yesterday's sitting the plaintiff declared he had no more evidence, except for exhibiting photographs.