Manuel Delia Files Human Rights Case Over ‘Mafia Conspiracy’ Libel Case Involving Malta Today Journalist
Manuel Delia has filed a human rights case over a court of appeal finding him responsible for causing moral damages to Malta Today’s Raphael Vassallo for claiming he was “part of the mafia conspiracy that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia.”
A court, presided over by Magistrate Rachel Montebello, initially ruled in favour of Delia, insisting that he was well within his right to express that people, including journalists, implicitly helped the conspiracy by pushing forward the opinion that Daphne Caruana Galizia was only murdered by the men who placed the bomb in her car.
However, Vassallo filed an appeal and Judge Lawrence Mintoff dismissed the idea that “being part of the mafia conspiracy” could be interpreted as metaphorical by a normal reader, ordering Delia to pay €1,000 in damages.
In a court application to open the case, Delia, through his lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia, Eve Borg Costanzi, Andrew Borg Cardona and Matthew Cutajar, argue in favour of freedom of expression, stressing the metaphorical nature of the analysis.
Delia has also long stressed that the article had nothing to do with Vassallo himself, but was rather a remark in a wide-ranging article from October 2019. Delia has referenced an article Vassallo wrote as proof of his claims.
In the application, Delia also notes the discrepancy in interpretation between Mintoff and Montebello, with the latter taking into account established procedure in the EU courts and other international bodies.
The application makes reference to a host of legal arguments dismissing Mintoff’s decision. It remains to be seen whether the courts will agree.
What do you think of the case?
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