The Court of Appeal yesterday confirmed a libel judgment delivered by the Magistrates' Court whereby Anton Attard was ordered to pay Lm1,000 in damages to Alfred Zammit.

Mr Zammit had filed his libel suit against Mr Attard, a former editor of Net TV. Mr Zammit claimed that he had been libelled by images appearing in the news broadcast of January 23, 2003. Mr Attard claimed that the report as broadcast constituted fair comment.

Mr Justice Philip Sciberras, sitting in the Court of Appeal, heard that on January 19, 2003, the Malta Labour Party held a mass meeting in connection with the EU referendum campaign. Mr Zammit was one of the comperes at the meeting. He told the court that he had seen a man on a nearby roof-top holding a bottle in his hand. Mr Zammit left the stage and went to the man who had removed the bottle.

Mr Zammit said he was later told that Net TV had reported on cruelty to a rabbit by some persons on a roof-top close to where the mass meeting was held. The news broadcast had shown Mr Zammit on the roof right after the footage showing the persons involved in the incident with the rabbit.

The first court had found in favour of Mr Zammit and ruled that the broadcast on Net TV had associated Mr Zammit with the incident of cruelty to animals when this was not the case. Mr Attard was ordered to pay Mr Zammit €2,329 (Lm1,000).

On appeal, Mr Justice Sciberras confirmed the first court's judgment and said that the film clearly implied that Mr Zammit was involved in the incident or that he had tolerated it.