An article published in Malta Today in 2009 was libellous, a Court of Appeal said today as it confirmed a judgement in which the newspaper’s managing editor, Saviour Balzan, had been ordered to pay Malta’s former representative in the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana, €3,000 in damages.

The libellous article was titled ‘Why people will protest and not vote’: "RCC acts as he has always acted, secretly calling on his army of sycophants to dish out bile and hate from their blogs and columns. They incite hatred and attempt to decimate any critics."

In March 2016, Mr Balzan had retracted the statement in an out-of-court settlement, but later reinstated it.

The court of Appeal declared on Friday that what Mr Balzan wrote about Mr Cachia Caruana had “no objective or factual basis”.