Franco Debono this evening raised breach of privilege complaints against three commenters on timesofmalta.com.

He said the website had faithfully reported his remarks in parliament yesterday – including the fact that somebody had made a death threat to him and that he had forgiven the culprit after the police identified him.

He was, however, complaining about comments made by Manuel Camilleri, Philip Hili and Michael Borg.

He said that Mr Camilleri had described him as a blackmailer when, Dr Debono insisted, he had only acted in the way he had a right and a duty to do in parliament and outside. 

Philip Hili had said that as a first class village lawyer, he (Dr Debono) should know that even though he had forgiven the culprit, the police were duty bound to investigate and if the culprit was found guilty, he had to face the consequences, even though he had forgiven him. His forgiveness served only to have a lesser punishment and did not exclude the culprit from what he deserved, if found guilty. Otherwise, he would be  accusing, judging and even handing the sentence to the culprit, something an honest village lawyer knew could not happen in a democratic country where the rule of law prevailed.

Michael Borg had asked whether his forgiveness was only a setup aimed at making him look a saint.