A magistrate yesterday discarded a defamation complaint made by the hunters’ federation over a comment that appeared in the Times of Malta news portal saying it was not the only component in the hunting lobby.
The Federation of Hun-ters, Trappers and Conservationists (FKNK) sued Edward Curmi for libel over a comment he posted on timesofmalta.com under a story entitled ‘Hunters vow action over government policy’ that was uploaded on August 30, 2011.
The item was about the FKNK’s intention to embark on a “different course of action” over what it saw as the government’s attempt to gradually eradicate hunting and trapping.
It was based on a strongly-worded statement issued by the federation, in which it claimed the government was being “led by the nose by Birdlife Malta”.
The complaint led to Mr Curmi’s arrest by police
In reaction, Mr Curmi had commented: “Now that is going to be a difficult one.
“The hunting lobby has resorted to just about everything: intimidation, arson, vandalism, lobbying, threatening, beatings etc.
“The list is long, to say nothing about the blatant breaking of hunting and trapping law every single day. Thinking something new and original is really going to take a lot of imagination. The open season has not even started, and it is shooting galore already, in case nobody noticed.”
A few days later, the federation filed a criminal complaint, arguing that what Mr Curmi had written amounted to defamation, leading to his arrest by the police. It argued in court that it represented about 80 per cent of hunters and trappers, and reference to the hunting lobby was therefore directed at it.
However, Magistrate Fran-cesco Depasquale noted that the FKNK was not the only institution that represented the hunters, so it could not be in any way construed that the comment was referring to it.
He said there was no direct reference to the federation in the comment posted, adding that no evidence was brought to substantiate the complaint it had filed. The comment never directly attacked the federation but was directed at hunters and trappers in general, the court concluded.