The Malta Union of Nurses and Midwives has expressed solidarity with its top officials and honorary president Paul Pace “in view of the continued and unwarranted attacks being made on them by the Times of Malta following the issuance of a garnishee order”.

The garnishee order concerns a libel suit instituted by executive members of the union, led by former president Paul Pace, against the newspaper.

An appeal court reduced the initial award of damages to €4,000 and the newspaper filed an application before the Constitutional Court.

In a statement, the union said the editorial of last Sunday’s issue of The Sunday Times of Malta, as well as an online article, “sought to vilify the four plaintiffs by portraying them as some money-hungry parasites who were unable to await the final outcome of the case prior to executing their request for payment”.

The issuing of the garnishee order was a “legitimate recourse to judicial action by creditors against recalcitrant debtors,” the union said.