Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera has abstained from presiding over two unrelated libel hearings involving columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
In a decree issued in court, Magistrate Scerri Herrera said she had filed a police report against Ms Caruana Galizia in order to safeguard her integrity from allegations made about her in a blog.
The two pending cases are between Ms Caruana Galizia and Maltastar and the other between Ms Caruana Galizia and Martin Degiorgio of the former Alleanza Nazzjonali Republikana.