Lawyers who shot down claims that minorities would be next after the spring hunting referendum were “giving their own interpretation” of the law, which was not final, the hunting lobby is insisting.

“Thousands of Maltese lawyers contest one another on the interpretation of some law or other and also appeal judgments,” the hunters federation (FKNK) said in a statement yesterday.

The hunters were reacting to a research paper drafted by a group of 11 top lawyers earlier this week which dismissed claims by the FKNK that other Maltese hobbies would be on the chopping board if the referendum to stop spring hunting is successful.

The FKNK did not reply to questions on the issue sent by Times of Malta as the federation has decided to boycott the independent media.

Asked about this, FKNK president Joe Perici Calascione said he would not speak to the press “because you always interpret whatever we say the best way it suits you”.

Proof enough that any hobby could suffer same fate

The federation said that the lawyers’ position “only serves to strengthen the FKNK’s belief and determination to campaign in favour of the interests, rights and legal privileges of minority groups”. In another statement, the St Hubert Hunters Association said the lawyers were being “purposely misleading”. It said that the possibility of 10,000 hunters seeing spring hunting banned due to the collection of 40,000 signatures was “proof enough” that any other hobby could suffer the same fate.

“A petition to Parliament, a private member’s Bill or a referendum, which might bear the signatures of a substantial part of the electorate that might oppose any other regulated minority activity, hobby or pastime, could lead to it being rescinded,” association president Mark Mifsud Bonnici said.

The group of lawyers, which includes former European Court of Human Rights judge Giovanni Bonello, argued that spring hunting was the only hobby permitted by law – all others were simply regulated. This meant that while spring hunting could be outlawed by removing the law that permitted it, other hobbies could not. At most, these could only be deregulated.