I am sure the vast majority of Maltese citizens have greatly welcomed Mr Justice Silvio Meli’s wise and patriotic words when presiding over the first hearing of the case instituted by the Caruana Galizia family to have Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta removed from the investigation into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s brutal murder.

The judge described the legal advice given to the Caruana Galizia family, and made public, by an English legal firm as a “manipulative orchestration to influence the court” and “an attack on the Maltese judiciary”. He also said that it was “an insult”.

The judge did not mince his words when commenting about the foreign legal firm’s advice, deeming it a “neo-colonialist” undertone to criticism of the process. He pointed out such legal advice had not impressed him.

The most telling words, in my opinion, were when he said that such manoeuvering and manipulation constituted “an attack on the independence and impartiality of the judicature, which is the heart of the rule of law”.

I strongly believe that the judge did not have just the English legal firm in mind but also all those who, both in Malta and in Europe, are constantly claiming the rule of law in our country “has collapsed”. I need not mention names.

May all these people heed the judge’s words and finally decide to put a stop to their unpatriotic campaign, simply to try and gain political points. After all, it is not just the reputation of our country and our institutions that is at stake but the livelihood of many thousands of fellow Maltese citizens.

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