The Criminal Court of Appeal confirmed a judgment which found columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia guilty of libel but reduced the original fine because she had managed to prove some of the facts.

Mrs Caruana Galizia had been fined €1,165 for libelling Labour Party deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia in an article entitled The Anything Goes Party, published on The Malta Independent on May 15, 2003.

Two months after the article was published, Dr Farrugia filed a formal complaint calling on the police to take criminal libel action against the columnist. He deemed the article defamatory and meant to cause him the maximum amount of damage.

The columnist insisted her article was not libellous because it was based on facts and fair comment about a public figure who was, therefore, open to public scrutiny.

In his judgment, Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri said that in defending herself the accused had to prove that all the facts were true. The court had found that some facts were true while others were not and for that reason it was reducing the fine to €900 and confirming the previous judgment.