Judges confirm libel damages ruling

The Court of Appeal confirmed a judgment in which an editor and a journalist were ordered to pay libel damages to Gavin Gulia, the Labour Party's spokesman on home affairs.

On October 13, 2003, the First Hall of the Civil Court ordered Il-Mument editor Victor Camilleri and journalist Dione Borg to pay Dr Gulia Lm500 in damages.

The court ruled that an article published in the paper's June 18, 2000, issue was libellous in nature. The article was entitled Il-Mahfra ta' Gulia - Gavin Gulia kien ta mahfra lil wiehed mid-distrett tieghu - Dan il-kaz jitnizzel mal-mahfriet l-ohra tal-Gvern Laburista (Gulia's pardon - Gavin Gulia had pardoned a man from his district - A case to be added to the other pardons granted by the Labour government).

It stated that Dr Gulia, who was then Justice Minister, had recommended the President to uphold a request made by a man, convicted of involuntarily injuring a women during a traffic accident, to reduce his jail term.

Mr Camilleri and Mr Borg appealed but the Court of Appeal - presided over by Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano, Mr Justice Anton Depasquale and Mr Justice Alberto Magri - yesterday confirmed the original judgment.

The Court of Appeal ruled that had the article limited itself to criticising, objectively, the system by which pardons were granted - a system which effectively allowed the government to act as a judge and alter judgments handed down by the judiciary even when there was no mistake, no humanitarian purpose or no need to pardon someone so s/he would testify against someone else - the journalist would have been exercising his rights and carrying out his duty to inform the public on matters of public interest.

Cleary, however, the aim of the article was not this but to attribute a libellous fact to Dr Gulia, the court ruled.