A magistrate has conditionally discharged a hunter who created a Facebook event advertising an illegal protest last September. The hunter was found guilty of promoting an event that was not covered by permits. 

The protest was called in reaction to the early closure of the Autumn hunting season and took place on September 21 in Valletta. 

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja conditionally discharged Christian Aquilina for three years after noting that he he failed to notify the police about the event. 

Mr Aquilina, 28, of Birkirkara, had been accused of organising a meeting without a permit, conspiring to commit a crime, inciting others to commit a crime and inciting hatred against the government. 

However, he was only found guilty of the first charge, with the magistrate ruling that the police had failed to produce evidence to back up all the other charges brought against the man. 

The court heard how Mr Aquilina did not attend the protest, which turned violent and saw hunters hurling insults at the government and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Hunters present at the protest also hurled objects at the Labour Party club in Republic Street and allegedly attempted to assault journalists and photographers. They are facing separate proceedings. 

Mr Aquilina created the Facebook event the day before the protest. When the police were alerted, they attempted to contact Mr Aquilina but failed. But on the day of the protest, they managed to get through to him and asked him to go to the Valletta police station, where they informed him that the protest was not covered by the necessary permits. 

The police told him that they could not stop the protest, though it would be an illegal protest as he had not applied for the necessary permits.

Mr Aquilina tried to call off the protest by posting another message in the ‘Maltese Hunters’ Facebook group, saying the police had called him in and told him that the necessary permits were not in hand.

In his decision, Magistrate Bugeja noted that Mr Aquilina had tried to call off the event but had been overtaken by events because hunters still turned up in Valletta. 

The Magistrate ruled that there was no direct link between the Facebook event created by Mr Aquilina and the violence that took place during the protest. He also found no evidence linking Mr Aquilina to the incitement of hated directed towards the government.