Shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi is to be taken to court by the police following comments he made at a press conference about former police commissioner Peter Paul Zammit.
The case is being instituted at the request of Dr Zammit and the government said the police acted independently (see below).
Opposition leader Simon Busuttil told a press conference this morning that this was the latest desperate attempt by the prime minister to intimidate the opposition as he was with his back to the wall over the Panama scandal.
Dr Azzopardi is being accused of defamation. During a press conference last June, Dr Azzopardi referred to a Data Protection Commissioner inquiry which found that police files had been handed over to Malta Today while they were in Mr Zammit's possession.
In a strongly-worded reaction this morning, Dr Busuttil said this move was intended to jail a PN spokesman for up to three months.
"This is Freedom Day, and instead of freedom, the government in its desperation is threatening democracy and freedom," Dr Busuttil said. He described the recent events as "obscene and fascist".
He noted that this was also the week during which the chairperson of the Broadcasting Authority had tried to stop the PN from speaking about the Panama scandal in a reply to TV programme Dissett.
The government had also issued a legal notice which would ban political parties from setting up political billboards except in the three months before a general election.
Dr Busuttil said Dr Azzopardi in his press conference about the former police commissioner had been doing his duty as shadow minister.
Dr Busuttil said the last time that a member of the opposition was arraigned over something done as part of his duties was in 1979 when then MP Michael Falzon, editor of The Democrat, was accused of incitement.
This meant that Dr Muscat had taken democracy back 35 years.
Malta now had a government which was changing the law so that anyone could vilify any religion, but then it tried to throw into prison somebody who criticized the former police commissioner.
Dr Azzopardi is due to be arraigned on Wednesday.
Dr Busuttil said the Opposition would not be intimidated and would show its solidarity with Dr Azzopardi on Wednesday. Should the case be lost, the PN was ready to even take it before the European courts as it was in no doubt that this government attack was a violation of human rights.
GOVERNMENT: THE POLICE ACTED INDEPENDENTLY
In a reaction, the government said the case against Dr Azzopardi was being instituted by the police at the request of Dr Zammit, who was a private citizen.
"The Executive Police, in this case as in all other cases, acts independently of the government upon an application by a private citizen," the government said.
See the press conference which led to today's case below.