Three Birdlife members who were photographed holding dead birds to highlight illegal hunting, appeared in court today to face charges of possession of protected species.
The case was instituted on the insistence of the Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK).
Magistrate Anthony Vella started hearing the case against Birdlife members Fiona Burrows, Nicholas Barbara and Caroline Rance who are pleading not guilty.
A fourth member - Rupert Masefield - was not present in court as he was not notified of the sitting and has since left the island.
In July, the court ordered criminal action to be taken against the bird lovers after the FKNK asked the police to investigate after Birdlife issued a photograph featuring members in possession of dead protected birds on October 2012.
Superintendent Ramon Mercieca said in evidence today that on October 9, 2012, when he was based at the police's ALE section, he received an email from the FKNK asking the police to take action against Bird Life members over a press release issued three days earlier. FKNK also sent a cutout of The Sunday Times of Malta quoting the press release and reproducing the photo.
Mr Mercieca said that when he looked into the matter he established there were no grounds to issue charges.
He referred to a case that happened on March 24, 2000, when a Birdlife member produced a dead protected bird during the television programme Xarabank to showcase illegal hunting.
The Police Commissioner of the time, George Grech, had concluded there was no criminal intention as the aim was to showcase illegal hunting.
As crimes - and not contraventions - the charges brought against the Birdlife members required criminal intent to be proven and this element was missing, Mr Mercieca said.
The BirdLife members were in possession of the birds because the public passed on dead or injured birds to them. Mr Barbara usually sent emails to the police with details of any injured birds in their possession and the main aim was to save the birds.
He drew up a report about his decision and informed the FKNK. The lawyer of the FKNK insisted that the police proceed and, eventually, the FKNK challenged the police decision.
The case this morning started off with a procedural glitch when the prosecution informed the court that all four accused were charged individually. But the court has been informed that all four were together in the same case which constituted a problem when Mr Masefield was not present.
So the court heard the case against the three as separate from that against Mr Masefield with Lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell remarking sarcastically that the police could opt to issue a European Arrest Warrant for him for holding a dead protected bird if it deemed it necessary.