Judge confirms libel case ruling

The Court of Appeal yesterday confirmed a judgment by the Magistrates' Court which had dismissed a libel action filed by Charlot Mifsud against government MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

Mr Mifsud, in his personal capacity and as mayor of Marsascala, had requested the court to find that a speech made by Dr Pullicino Orlando at a public meeting in Marsascala in September 2005 was libellous in his regard. The speech had been broadcast the following day by Super One television.

The Magistrates' Court had upheld Dr Pullicino Orlando's plea that Mr Mifsud was not identifiable from the speech. Dr Pullicino Orlando had also pleaded that the speech was not libellous and that it constituted fair comment.

Mr Mifsud appealed and Mr Justice Philip Sciberras, presiding over the Court of Appeal (inferior jurisdiction), pointed out that both parties to the libel action were public figures on opposing sides of the political spectrum. The meeting at which the allegedly libellous speech was made was of a politically-controversial nature as it related to the recycling plant at Marsascala. Consequently, the words used by Dr Pullicino Orlando had to be examined in their context.

A person in public life was subject to criticism about his or her actions or words and the limits of acceptable criticism were wider in the case of a politician in comparison with that of a private individual.

In this case, the appellate court found that Dr Pullicino Orlando's words, when taken in their context, did not exceed the level of acceptable criticism. All Dr Pullicino Orlando had done was to criticise what he termed wastage of funds by the Marsascala local council for, according to him, the council had engaged technical experts to write a report on the recycling plant and had then ignored the experts' conclusions.

Mr Justice Sciberras said that Dr Pullicino Orlando was entitled to pass judgment on such facts.

The court therefore dismissed Mr Mifsud's appeal and confirmed the Magistrates' Court judgment.