Columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia has been fined €2,400 after being found guilty by a court of defaming former Azzjoni Nazzjonali Repubblikana spokesman Martin Degiorgio, whom she had described as a fascist.
The case dates back to 2006, when Ms Caruana Galizia had penned two opinions in The Malta Independent on Sunday.
The first titled ‘Black shirts and blacker hearts’ was published on May 21, whereas the second one titled ‘Martin and friends make the news’ was published on June 18.
In an application filed that same year, Mr Degiorgio sued the columnist for damages over various remarks, including similarities she had drawn between him and far-right leader Norman Lowell.
Ms Caruana Galizia had also quoted the ANR spokesman warning that “Africans risked turning Malta into the toilet of the Mediterranean” – a claim allegedly made in the International Herald Tribune which was reported by another portal in Malta.
Mr Degiorgio had argued that such remarks had portrayed him as a person harbouring extreme views and a fascist, implying that he could even have been involved in arson attacks against journalists and members of the Jesuit community working with migrants.
The court, presided over by Magistrate Gabriella Vella, said the opinions of Ms Caruana Galizia were libellous and could not be considered as a fair comment. The court noted that use of the term “fascist” was not intended to describe the political ideology of Mr Degiorgio, but to insult him through the negative socio-political attributes associated with such a term.
In addition, the columnist had failed to produce enough evidence to support her claim that a post on an internet forum in which Adolf Hitler had been described as “one of the most significant personalities of the 20th century”, had been written by the ANR spokesman.
As for the remark that Africans risked turning Malta into a toilet of the Mediterranean, the court said that the columnist had failed to present the original source of this comment, which according to her had been made in the International Herald Tribune.