Court orders editor to pay Lm500 in libel suit

The Court of Appeal yesterday upheld an appeal filed by Fr Joe Borg and ordered Felix Agius, as editor of the newspaper Kullhadd, to pay him Lm500 in libel damages.

The court heard that Fr Borg had filed a writ for libel damages in the First Hall of the Civil Court against Mr Agius claiming that he had been libelled by an article entitled Favur id-delegati ta' l-Arcisqof - Il-Gens - Il-Gens suppost bilancjat, imma favur il-PN (In favour of the Archbishop's delegates - Il-Gens - Il-Gens is meant to be balanced, but favours the Nationalist Party) published in 1998.

The First Hall of the Civil Court had dismissed Fr Borg's writ ruling that the article had quoted him correctly and that the newspaper was entitled to comment upon Fr Borg's remarks. Fr Borg appealed to the Court of Appeal composed of Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano, Mr Justice Anton Depasquale and Mr Justice Albert J. Magri.

From an examination of the facts of the case it resulted that the words attributed to Fr Borg were totally different from what he was quoted as saying in the article.

The newspaper, the Court of Appeal said, had made an attribution of the fact that Fr Borg had said certain words and had not commented upon such words. This attribution of facts was libellous, the Court of Appeal ruled.

The court therefore upheld Fr Borg's appeal and revoked the judgment of the First Hall of the Civil Court.