Birdlife activists have been officially charged with illicit possession of birds and have been summoned to court in October for posing in a picture with protected species to highlight illegal hunting.

Birdlife conservation manager Nicholas Barbara, who is among those charged, has questioned whether the action is a drive to stop the NGO from exposing the atrocities of illegal hunting.

“These charges come as a surprise to us since the matter was already investigated by police, and it appears no wrong-doing has been found... It is worrying that undue pressure is being made on the police to take the matter even further than it has already gone through.”

The arraignment will take place after Magistrate Aaron Bugeja upheld a request by the hunters’ federation (FKNK) on July 23 urging the police to take criminal action against six Birdlife activists. They were featured in a picture distributed to the media in October 2012 where they were holding protected birds targeted by hunters.

The law bars anybody from “keeping any bird, whether alive or dead” and FKNK had argued that if the law applied to them it should also apply to Birdlife activists.

More in The Sunday Times of Malta.