Update – initial news reports indicate that judge Edwina Grima refused the request. We’ll update this article with more information soon.
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Story as of 24 September, 2024:
Following the court’s ban on all reportage featuring references to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech, the journalists who were affected by the ban – Manuel Delia and Michael Kaden – are currently filing court proceedings to request a revocation of the ban as well as the order to remove video material they produced on the subject.
Last week, following a request from Fenech’s lawyers, judge Edwina Grima ordered a blanket ban on “all declarations and public discussions on traditional and social media” about the murder or the accused in connection with the crime he is accused of committing, with the exception of reportage which flatly denotes what is occurring in court as the case unfolds. Unless overturned, the ban is set to remain in place until Fenech’s criminal trial is concluded, a process which may take years.
Last week’s ruling also specifically ordered NEWZ.mt to remove a video in which the former spoke about Fenech’s alleged involvement in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination. The video was published on a Facebook page administered by Kaden, NEWZ.mt. In two separate court applications, the journalists are asking the court to revoke this order as well. This website is informed that Delia filed his court request earlier this morning. Kaden will be filing it tomorrow.
Given that both journalists have landed in court over the publication of material they produced together, their legal arguments are based on similar principles. To begin with, they contend that there was no violation of the court’s previous ban on any material which referred to declarations made by Fenech in his failed bid for a presidential pardon.
“…what the accused does not want the jury to see, and that which the Criminal Appeals court ordered to not be exhibited to the jury, are the declarations made by the accused with the intent of seeking a pardon, not the fact that he asked for a pardon in and of itself,” the court filing reads, with the journalists’ lawyers further arguing that their clients did not breach any court order when uploading a video referencing Fenech’s request.
Additionally, the journalists are also arguing that the judge’s ban is too wide, unnecessary in a democratic country, and one that runs counter to the principles of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to freedom of expression.
While Article 517 of the Criminal Code does state that every court of criminal justice has the right to prohibit the publication of details from a court case, the applicants argue that in this instance, the court overreached by also banning public discussion on the subject.
“In addition, the consequential impact that this order will leave is that, though we do not have any indication when the trial of the accused Yorgen Fenech will be held, no person can discuss or make any declarations related to both the assassination of a journalist and the person accused of committing this assassination,” the application reads.
“This also means that certain unequivocal facts which result from other judicial proceedings and which were raised by the accused himself also cannot be reported or discussed.”
The applicants further pointed out that muzzling any discussion about the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia will inevitably lead to the further destabilisation of the free press as the fourth pillar of democracy. Referring to the point raised by Fenech’s lawyers – their argument that such reportage breaches their client’s right to a fair trial – the applicants note that such an argument can only be raised if the offending declaration is made by an authority figure, not because of what is being effectively described as negative publicity.
“It is hereby being submitted that such a prohibition can never be acceptable in a democratic society, this especially in light of the fact that there is no public knowledge about when Fenech’s trial will proceed to jury stage, and the prohibition in question will impose silence about the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia in the month before the seventh anniversary of her assassination is commemorated, without any full justice for said assassination and the stories which the assassins tried to suppress,” they added.
Both journalists are being represented by lawyers Matthew Cutajar and Evelyn Borg Costanzi.
