Left: Daphne Caruana Galizia with her husband and three sons, Right: Economy Minister Chris Cardona

The family of Daphne Caruana Galizia has sued Economy Minister Chris Cardona and his aide Joe Gerada for dropping a libel suit they had instigated against the late journalist for her story that they had visited a brothel in Germany.

In January 2017, Caruana Galizia wrote that Cardona and Gerada had a threesome with a prostitute at the FKK Acapulco in Velbert during a state visit to Germany. The blog included copious details, including quotes attributed to the minister.

Cardona and Gerada sued Caruana Galizia for libel and issued a precautionary warrant against her pending the outcome of the case, prompting Caruana Galizia to demand that the court obtain their mobile phone geolocation data for the date they were supposed to be at the brothel.

However, Caruana Galizia was killed before this data was released and Cardona and Gerada eventually dropped the case without awaiting its publication.

However, Caruana Galizia’s widower Peter and her sons Matthew, Andrew and Paul have now sued both Cardona and Gerada on the grounds that the law prohibits the filing of malicious, frivolous and vexatious precautionary warrants.

The FKK Acapulco in Velbert

The Caruana Galizias are arguing that the fact that Cardona and Gerada withdrew the libels and precautionary warrants without presenting their mobile phone geolocation data as evidence shows that they had opened the cases maliciously, frivolously and vexatiously. The cases are being heard in front of two separate magistrates.

In a sitting in the case against Gerada today, his lawyer Pawlu Lia accused the Caruana Galizias of trying to resurrect a story which caused immense harm to his client, including the breakdown of his marriage. Peter Caruana Galizia responded by accusing Lia of being scared of the mobile geolocation data, stating that his late wife “was right, like she was on many other topics”.

This case comes a week after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat offered to drop a libel suit he had opened against Caruana Galizia over her Egrant story on condition that her family admits she had got her facts wrong. The family dismissed Muscat’s offer, insisting they “will not concede to extortion from our public servants”.

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]