A former editor of two business magazines, tasked with the organisation of a networking forum at Smart City four years ago, was ordered to pay €6,000 in libel damages to a guest speaker who was turned away and branded a ‘persona non grata’.

Martin Vella, former editor of Property and Life as well as the Economic Update magazines, was targeted by two libel suits filed by Anthony Micallef, owner of a private business dealing in office equipment and former president of the Maltese Libyan Chamber of Commerce.

Relations between the two had turned sour note when Mr Vella had allegedly backtracked on the purchase of a printer from Mr Micallef’s company. The latter had allegedly vowed to take revenge which, he apparently did by refusing to pay for an interview and adverts published in the Economic Update, claiming the content had not been up to scratch.

With these unresolved issues between the two, Mr Vella, when tasked by the Tunisian Embassy in Malta to organize the ‘Malta-Tunisia-Libya B2B Networking Forum 2014’, had sought to get even by ensuring that Mr Micallef would be struck off the speakers’ list.

For this reason, days before the official inauguration of the event, Mr Vella had sent an email to Mr Micallef, copying third parties including the Tunisian ambassador and high-ranking members of the police corps, declaring that Mr Micallef was a "persona non grata", an "undesirable or unwanted" person.

In another email to the Tunisian Ambassador, subject of a separate libel suit, Mr Vella had sought to justify his decision declaring that Mr Micallef was "a negative, destructive and obstinate person" who had refused a "handshake" in the past.

This exchange of emails had embarrassed the Tunisian Embassy who had tried to make amends by issuing a formal invitation to Mr Micallef, but Mr Vella had done all he could to make sure that the guest speaker was kept away. Indeed, neither Mr Micallef nor any representative from the Maltese Libyan Chamber of Commerce had attended the event.

Mr Micallef then instituted two libel suit.

During proceedings, Mr Vella had insisted that the decision to declare Mr Vella as ‘persona non grata’ had been taken jointly by the organizing committee.

However, the court, presided over by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, observed there had been no organising committee, all evidence pointing towards the respondent as the person handling the organisation of the event.

Moreover, in a brochure advertising the forum, it had been expressly stated that “The Economic Update's editor Martin Vella” was organising the one-day business event.

The court concluded that Mr Vella's intention when sending the emails, had clearly been "to harm the applicant by defaming him and tarnishing his reputation with third parties including the Tunisian Ambassador and high-ranking members of the police corps."

For this reason, the court declared the emails defamatory and ordered Mr Vella to pay €4,000 and €2,000 in respect of the two cases.