The former GRTU director general, Vince Farrugia, has lost a criminal libel that he had failed to back up, not least because he only appeared for one of the eleven court sittings.

Mr Farrugia had filed the libel suit against General Workers' Union daily newspaper L-Orizzont claiming slander over an article entitled "Min hu l-gurdien, Cens?" (Who is the rat, Vincent?) that appeared on February 28, 2015.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale noted with regret that Mr Farrugia had shown utter lack of interest in the case he had filed and had even failed to appear in court to explain which parts of the article he found defamatory and libellous.

The magistrate said the fact that Mr Farrugia had only attended the first of 11 court hearing showed the lack of interest by the complainant who had not even confirmed his complaint on oath before the court.

Even though GRTU president Paul Abela had testified, the magistrate said that due to the lack of interest, the case did not merit the court's attention, adding that the case was managed in an "amateurish" manner by Mr Farrugia and his lawyers.

As he had done in other similar cases, Magistrate Depasquale reiterated that criminal libel proceedings were being "abused" to limit freedom of expression. He therefore cleared the newspaper editor of the charges.