Political parties have an uncanny habit of trying to outdo each other not only in what is best for the country and its people but also in matters that stink and that may even constitute an outright threat to democracy. Economy Minister Chris Cardona and shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi both gave us a very clear example of this sinister streak in politics.

Dr Cardona has been accused by blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia of visiting a brothel while on official duty in Germany. He has strongly denied this and instituted libel proceedings against her, which, of course, he has every right to do. Other Cabinet colleagues have done the same with regard to other people and different media, including this newspaper, but they stopped there, allowing justice to take its course and await the court’s decision.

For his own reasons, Dr Cardona went further. He asked the Magistrates’ Court to freeze Ms Caruana Galizia’s assets to the tune of €47,460. It seems he arrived to that figure by working out the maximum sum she may potentially be ordered to pay if she were to lose the libel suits.

It is a course of action that can only be interpreted one way: a direct attack on the right to freedom of expression by a Cabinet minister and the deputy leader of the party in power, to boot.

Whether to authorise a seizure of assets or not is at the court’s discretion, yet, the magistrate felt she should uphold the minister’s application. So far, we do not know on what was that decision based.

Furthermore, while, usually, the amount involved is easily quantifiable, in this case it was all calculations. The minister assumed the blogger would lose the case and that she would be ordered to pay the maximum sum provided by law.

The blogger – and any other medium/editor/journalist/writer in her position – has three options: make a bank guarantee, deposit the equivalent of the amount claimed or await the outcome of the case, which has not even started being heard.

The same can well happen again if the law remains unchanged. So, if the Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition want to prove they will protect the right to freedom of expression, they should jointly move an urgent amendment to the law.

Still, in view of the episodes mentioned above, one should not hold one’s breath. The Prime Minister has yet to condemn Dr Cardona’s heavy-handed antics and the leader of the Opposition remained mum when his justice spokesman, who also covers democracy and civil rights issues, accused a journalist of intimidation and reported her to the police a few days ago.

Dr Azzopardi did apologise and withdraw the report the following day but the writing on the wall remains and it is becoming increasingly clear that, as the political situation hots up as we approach a general election, the political class will stop at nothing to gag the press.

All this is happening as protracted efforts continue to remove criminal libel, which can send a journalist to prison if found guilty. Both political parties say they are in favour of such a move but they must prove in practice that the press deserves help not hindrance, discouragement or threats to be able to fulfil its many functions at the service of society.

The way elements from both sides of the political divide are behaving betrays a good degree of panic and discomfort when they have to give an account to the public of their executive decisions or antics.

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