The government has offered to pay €7,000 “as just satisfaction” to a former newspaper editor who, in 1973, had been sentenced to three months in prison after publishing an article about a Cabinet minister.

Joseph Calleja had been found guilty of defamation and offending public morals after the satirical newspaper he edited, In-Niggieża, carried an article titled Pudina mis-Sultana a’ la Cassar (Sultanas’ pudding, Cassar style).

The article had claimed that the late then minister Ġużè Cassar had impregnated a Gozitan woman and fathered a child.

Mr Calleja had spent two and a half months in prison, subsequently claiming he suffered from anxiety and psychological trauma, including claustrophobia, as a result.

Mr Calleja was not happy with the offer

Forty-one years later, he sought constitutional redress arguing that his right to freedom of expression had been violated. The Civil Court (First Hall), in its constitutional competence, agreed with him and he was awarded €5,000 in moral damages. Both sides appealed and the Constitutional Court cut the compensation to €2,000.

Mr Calleja claimed that the costs he had incurred, including to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, amounted to just under €9,800. He complained that he remained a victim of the violation upheld by the Maltese courts, given the low amount of compensation awarded and the fact that expenses far exceeded the award.

Attempts were made to reach an out-of-court settlement but they failed. Subsequently, the government informed the Strasbourg-based court it was willing to make a unilateral declaration, acknowledging violation of Mr Calleja’s right to freedom of expression, and offering him the sum of €7,000. It also asked the court to strike out the case before it.

Mr Calleja was not happy with the offer but a committee of three European judges, including Chief Justice Emeritus Vincent De Gaetano, was satisfied with both the amount offered and the government’s declaration. The judges concluded there was no reason for them to continue examining the case and so decided to strike it off the list.

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