Court cuts libel damages won by monsignor

A court has reduced the damages awarded to a monsignor in a libel case he had won against the Church's own newspaper Il-Ġens.

The Court of Appeal confirmed the previous judgment of the Magistrates' Court, which had ruled that an article entitled Nafu X'Aħna Nagħmlu? (Do we know what we are doing?) published in April 2007, written by an anonymous author, had libelled Mgr Giovanni Gauci. However, it cut the damages from €9,000 to €5,823.43.

The Magistrates' Court had agreed with Mgr Gauci and found that the article was libellous and "poisonous". According to the first court, the points raised in the article had not been proven and were actually false.

The newspaper's editorial board should not have allowed itself to be manipulated in such a manner and if its members could not defend the fundamental human rights of each citizen they ought to resign, the court had said.

The article had commented on the functions of a chapel known as Santa Savina in Victoria, which, it said, had been constructed for the purpose of perpetual adoration but that no such adoration was taking place. Its rector is Mgr Gauci.

The newspaper's editor, Nikol Baldacchino, appealed the decision, claiming he had not been given a fair hearing and that, in any event, the damages were excessive. The appeals court noted that while the first court could have been more balanced in the wording of its judgment, there was nothing to censure in the findings. Nor could it be proven that Mr Baldacchino had not been given a fair hearing.

When examining the issue of the damages, however, the court felt that the sum was excessive and so reduced it.