BirdLife asks police to probe hunters' online messages

The police have been requested by BirdLife Malta to probe a number of threatening messages that were posted for a while on a hunters' website forum.

In a 29-page report filed on Friday, lawyer Franco Vassallo urged the police commissioner to investigate the moderator and contributors to the forum www.huntinginmalta.org.mt and to institute criminal proceedings.

This is the second time the police have been called on to look into the forum moderated by the Federazzjoni Kaccaturi Nassaba Konservazzjonisti.

"I'm sure that, like me, you other enthusiasts are prepared to do everything - so if need be, let's trigger off panic, let's fight, so we can show people that we too have rights," a message signed by Malviz, a pseudonym, had suggested.

Some of the comments did not leave much to the imagination. A message posted by a certain il-Qawwi on January 23 urged hunters to rally together.

"We need to agree and then we'll blow our tops; we will destroy buildings like an earthquake. This is what we'll do to Malta and the palaces of the Prime Minister," said the message, interspersed with obscene language.

SharpShooter cautioned hunters not to bomb or vandalise anywhere for the time being, but added that such "terrorist" measures should be applied at the right time and aimed at whoever deserves it.

Birdlife is taking exception to the fact that some of the messages refer to individuals like its president Joseph Mangion and ornithologist Joe Sultana.

Birdlife executive director Tolga Temuge said the ornithology organisation had taken this step because violence should never be tolerated in a civilised society and, he said, with free speech came accountability.

"This kind of talk by the hunters has been accepted for far too long in Malta. No other group in Maltese society is allowed to force the rest of society into submitting and acquiescing to their demands," he charged.

He said the messages were online for over two weeks, until they hit the news headlines. Ten days ago The Times reported that the police had been asked to investigate a message that contained potential threats against Environment Minister George Pullicino.

Irrespective of who posted the provocative messages on the hunters' forum, the fact remained that FKNK was allowing its communication medium to be used as a platform where violent actions were trumpeted as a way of stemming any opposition to illegal hunting practices, he said.

The moderator, as well as the people within FKNK who are responsible for the management of the forum, had acted in breach of a number of provisions of the law, including the Press Act, Mr Temuge claimed.

Moreover, he said, it was the FKNK that posted the initial message on January 22 that provoked the subsequent flow of threatening messages. Mr Temuge said FKNK blatantly misled the forum by saying in its first message following the closure of the hunting season that there would be no more open seasons for hunting and trapping in Malta.

"This is of course far from correct and was a clear attempt to blow the issue out of proportion."

When contacted, the general secretary of the Federation for Hunting and Conservation, Lino Farrugia, said he was unaware of the fresh charges.

"We're in contact with the police practically every day, but we haven't heard anything. I don't know what these supposed threats are," he said. He said he was aware that the police would be arraigning an individual who threatened hunters on their forum, apart from another message which threatened Mr Pullicino.

Mr Farrugia insisted that the forum is monitored daily and that any threatening messages are deleted, adding that anybody was free to post a message on the website.

"The forum is a means for hunters to vent their passion, the same way people write to The Times to blow the hunting issue out of proportion."

He denied that the FKNK was inciting hunters, saying that any statements made by the federation was backed by facts.

"Of course there is anger and tension among hunters, who cannot keep being treated like this... We are expecting the minister to announce the amended hunting regulations this week," Mr Farrugia said.