Obscenities committee takes form as parties bicker

A committee intended to clarify what constitute obscenities seems to have been stillborn, with the government and the opposition blaming each other for its failure to start meeting.

The Justice Ministry yesterday said it was waiting for Labour leader Joseph Muscat to nominate two parliamentarians to sit on the committee before it could start functioning.

But in a reaction, Labour said Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had not consulted Dr Muscat to nominate the committee's members, as established by law.

The committee, which is supposed to set down what is pornographic or obscene, was called for by Labour MP Owen Bonnici in January in the wake of legal action against a 21-year-old student. Mark Camilleri was charged after publishing a graphic short story about sexual violence in the university newspaper he edits, Ir-Realtà.

Back in January, Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici had promised he would be convening a committee to discuss the definition of obscenities.

In March, Dr Gonzi nominated MPs Beppe Fenech Adami and Francis Zammit Dimech as members while Charlò Bonnici and Edwin Vassallo were nominated as their substitutes.

However, the committee has not yet met and Labour yesterday blamed the Prime Minister for not having consulted it.

It said the party was nominating Dr Bonnici and Evarist Bartolo as members and Helena Dalli and Luciano Busuttil as their substitutes. The party said it was not aware of Dr Gonzi's letter of nomination sent to the Minister until it was published yesterday.

"Labour hopes there will not be any more excuses and foot dragging to set up this committee," it said.

But in a counterstatement published yesterday evening, the Office of the Prime Minister said the Labour Party was just making excuses to try and conceal the fact that after three months if failed to give the government the names of its nominees.

"It was only today, after three months and a public statement, that the Opposition announced the names of the two parliamentarians on the committee and the two substitutes," the OPM said, adding that the two parties had agreed on the setting up and work of the committee.

Malta's only regulations defining obscenities date back to 1975.