Adds declaration by John Mizzi
The Maltese court interfered with a journalist’s right to freedom of expression, the European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday.
The Maltese courts had presumed malicious intent on the part of Mr Mizzi
The judgement overturned a decision handed down by the Maltese courts in 2002, and confirmed by appeal in 2005, in which John Mizzi was found guilty of defaming former Labour Prime Minister Sir Paul Boffa, who died 30 years earlier.
The ECHR ordered the Maltese government to pay Mr Mizzi €10,000 in damages.
The case goes back to 1994 when, in a letter to the editor, published by The Sunday Times, Mr Mizzi complained about plans for the building of a yacht marina in Xemxija and briefly discussed the history of the project. He suggested that after World War II and during the time when Sir Paul was Prime Minister, permission was given to build at the bay “because Dr Boffa wanted to build there”.
The son and heir of the late Prime Minister sued Mr Mizzi for defamation, arguing that Mr Mizzi’s attributed false and despicable intentions to his father. Mr Mizzi was found guilty and ordered to pay €700 in libel damages.
The ECHR said yesterday the Maltese court’s decision was wrong and violated the convention on human rights because it interfered with Mr Mizzi’s right to freedom of expression and information.
The court said it was true that Mr Mizzi could have phrased his statement in a more careful manner. However, there was only one of two possible interpretations of the statement. “Even if the interpretation of the domestic courts were accepted, the Court found that the Maltese courts had presumed malicious intent on the part of Mr Mizzi and had not examined whether he had acted in good faith,” the Court said.
Neither had the Maltese courts given any weight to the fact that Sir Paul had been a Prime Minister and, therefore, a public figure who had to tolerate broader limits of acceptable criticism.
“While Sir Paul’s son had had the right to bring an action for defamation, Sir Paul himself had died more than three decades before the article had been published.
“Thus, the damage which the statement might have caused to his reputation had not been serious,” the Court found.
The judgement was near unanimous with one dissenting opinion, that of Mr Justice David Scicluna.
Sir Paul served as Malta’s Prime Minister between 1947 and 1950. He died in 1962.
JOHN MIZZI WRITES
Your readers will have noticed that online comments by a Joseph P. Borg on this news report have been withdrawn after I pointed out that in his remarks he had totally misread the verdict of the European Court of Human Rights, had drawn the wrong conclusions and had grossly libelled me and the President of the European Court. I am considering further action.
JOSEPH B. BORG WRITES
Following the telephone call I received from yr office, I have noticed the withdrawal of the comments which Raymond Sammut and myself had expressed in our COMMENTS.
I definitely had no intention to libel anybody - but I had a right to express an opinion just as much as anybody else including the "original statement of facts" made by John Mizzi, after which Mr Mizzi himself had offered to make a correction explaining that no such meaning had been intended"( as quoted from the ECHR report)
I have no hesitation to offer a similar declaration saying - that I had no intention to libel Mr John Mizzi .- by my comments.
JOHN MIZZI - Borg’s comment is an attempt to mislead your readers that this is an apology. His original remarks were open attempts to denigrate me personally and attacked my integrity as a journalist. Let him not delude himself that he can get away with it as I have decided to take him to court.