A court has thrown out an attempt by Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin president Alex Pisani to press charges against Brikkuni frontman Mario Vella after Mr Pisani turned up an hour late for his sitting.

Magistrate Joe Mifsud heard how the police’s Cyber Crime Unit had received an e-mail from Mr Pisani on September 21 about a Facebook post where Mr Vella allegedly made defamatory remarks towards Mr Pisani and allegedly “threatened” to throw Molotov cocktails at the “patriots”.

Alex Pisani

However, Mr Pisani turned up an hour late for his sitting, despite being called three times at 15-minute intervals.

“Maybe he’s busy eating a pork sandwich,” the magistrate quipped.

Yesterday, Mr Pisani and members of the Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin distributed pork sandwiches during a protest against Muslims praying in the open air, claiming that St Paul’s Bay primary school children who took pork sandwiches to school were being intimidated.

The allegation was strongly rebutted by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, who denounced it as a complete fabrication and stressed that there was no ban or restriction on the consumption of meat at the school due to religious beliefs.

When Mr Pisani finally appeared in the courtroom, the magistrate pointed out that such proceedings required a criminal complaint filed by a lawyer under the Press Act and not a report to the Cyber Crime Unit.

The court then cleared Mr Vella, saying that the charges did not result from the facts.

Lawyer Quentin Tanti appeared for Mr Vella.