Malta Today editor Saviour Balzan and journalist James Debono filed a constitutional application claiming that their right to freedom of expression was violated when a court found them guilty of the defamation of former Mediterranean Conference Centre chairman Peter Fenech.

The court had fined them a total of €18,000 after it found that Dr Fenech was not a public official.

The case related to a series of articles by Mr Balzan and Mr Debono published in 2006. The articles claimed that then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had waived a debt of €256,217 that Dr Fenech, as a director of VAB Co. Ltd, owed after failing to pay rent on a government-owned property in Sliema for 25 years.

It was alleged that, as soon as Dr Gonzi took the Finance Ministry under his wing, the debt was waived. Dr Fenech filed two libel suits.

The first court, presided by Magistrate Francesco Depas-quale, fined Dr Balzan €5,000 and €3,000 for his article ‘Immunity because of a bounty’ and an excerpt in the newspaper’s ‘Quote of the week’, respectively.

Mr Debono was fined €10,000 for his article entitled ‘As government waives Lm100,000 bill, Peter Fenech claims Lm138,000’.

The judgments, which were confirmed on appeal, declared that Dr Fenech was not a public figure – despite him holding politically-appointed posts.

Mr Balzan and Mr Debono now filed a constitutional application against the Attorney General, the Courts Registrar, the permanent secretary at the Justice Ministry and Dr Fenech.

They are insisting that the articles were justified because Dr Fenech held a public post.

Besides, they are claiming, the articles were published after Dr Fenech was continuously asked to answer questions sent to him.

Therefore, the courts’ decision was unjust and infringed upon Malta Today’s right to freedom of expression.