A court has dismissed a libel suit filed by Birdlife against the hunting federation’s president Joe Perici Calascione, holding that the FKNK had a right to complain about an anti-hunting bias in booklets distributed to schoolchildren by Birdlife.

Birdlife president Joseph Mangion and secretary Desiree Falzon had requested damages for a 2009 press release issued by the FKNK, titled ‘Birdlife Malta infiltrate Education Department’.

“Birdlife is renowned for its anti-hunting lobby and more so for its gradual brainwashing of children through the supply of misinterpreted and misrepresented material facts, depriving them of a fair and unbiased platform about what the environment and conservation should all be about,” read the press release.

The FKNK had subsequently come to an agreement with the Education Ministry to supply it with a teacher’s pack explaining the conservation efforts of hunters and trappers in the natural environment.

Mr Mangion and Ms Falzon had sued for libel, arguing that Birdlife had not “infiltrated” the education department, but had only presented a project after representatives of the two held a meeting.

Likewise, the environmentalists felt themselves defamed by the allegation that they were promoting an “anti-hunting message.” Their fight was with illegal hunting, argued Birdlife.

Mr Perici Calascione argued that what had been written constituted “fair comment”.

In his judgment, Magistrate Francesco Depasquale expressed his disappointment at the fact that the two leading environmental organisations were unable to reconcile their differences and come to an out of court settlement.

Regarding the issue of defamation, the court noted that while the booklet provided a great deal of interesting and relevant information about the environment, it did not contemplate the possibility of legal hunting and therefore “failed to strike a balance”.