Malta Book Council chairman Mark Camilleri has been instructed to resign by the Education Ministry following a spat on Facebook with one of murder suspect Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers. 

Permanent secretary Frank Fabri emailed Camilleri this evening, telling him to step down from his position, which he has held for the past seven years.

“In light of what you published in the public domain and what has been reported in the media and what is certainly not exemplary to the public and educational sector, I am asking you to consider you position in the National Book Council and resign your post out of your own free will,” Fabri wrote, in an email seen by Lovin Malta.

Fabri added a link to this article by the news website StradaRjali.

Camilleri responded that he has no intention of resigning and that he intends to call the National Writers’ Congress tomorrow so that local publishers and authors can decide whether or not he should step down.

The controversy started this evening after Camilleri defended the public inquiry which has been set up to establish whether the state could have prevented Caruana Galizia’s brutal assassination and which is set to continue into the new year. 

“Those who are scared of public inquiries and the truth have a lot to hide,” he wrote. “Public inquiries aren’t there to serve political interests. I’m very pleased that, thanks to this public inquiry, we’ve found out about many more new truths and I wholly support the judiciary panel as they continue working towards the truth.”