Eve Borg Bonello Drops Hate Crime Charges After Culprits Apologise
A young political activist and president of the Opposition’s youth wings has dropped charges against two people who threatened her online.
Eve Borg Bonello, president of the PN’s TeamStart, said she had “no problem” dropping the charges after the culprits apologised for their words.
“The Courts of Justice have again upheld the principle that freedom of expression has red lines. It is not a carte blanche to vilify or attack. Everyone can have an opinion and everyone should feel free to criticise it,” Borg Bonello said in a statement.
“Nobody has the right to encourage violence against you for having something to say. Because there are legal consequences for that,” she continued.
The hate speech comments had been made after the 17-year-old passionately spoke out during a 2019 protest.
Borg Bonello has often been attacked online, most recently after she posted images of herself carrying a trash bag alongside the caption: “walking back from Castille”.
A number of people online took the comment badly, and attempted to troll and attack the 17-year-old in kind.
“How sweet she went to clean the graves of her dead relatives, this cuck,” one man had said.
Borg Bonello ended by reiterating that attacking someone personally for their political beliefs is never acceptable.
“The magistrate insisted that it is so important that this message comes out today: hate speech is not okay, not in a democracy. Nobody should be afraid to express an opinion.”
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