After Johnny Depp Judgement, Peppi Azzopardi Calls Out ‘Unfairness’ Of Jury System
Renowned Maltese TV presenter Peppi Azzopardi has criticised the entire jury system as being “unfair” after Johnny Depp won a defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
“The seven jurors who delivered judgment had no qualification in the law, so much so that the judge had to send them back to their chambers after they issued their verdict because they had left important questions out,” Azzopardi said this morning.
“You can’t blame them. Jurors, even in Malta, aren’t chosen because of their expertise but because they are citizens.”
“It’s like choosing me to judge a ballet show or going to a mechanic to treat a headache. I have been speaking against the unjust jury system for the past 20 years.”
He suggested that the sway of public opinion over jurors is why Depp won this case but lost a libel case he had instituted in the UK against the owners of The Sun over an article that claimed he had physically abused Heard.
Azzopardi also used the judgement to argue against the live-streaming of court cases, a system which isn’t present within the Maltese legal system.
“It was a sentence delivered by millions of people who had already smeared and demonised Amber Heard before the jury even started,” Azzopardi warned.
“All those billions of posts against her obviously had their effect on the jurors before the jury even started and those jurors should never have been live on TV and social media live.”
“Eighteen million people saw TikTok posts with the hashtag #justiceforjohnnydepp and Johnny Depp was the one who kept on insisting that the trial be played out on TV because he knew that, thanks to his fame, he had already been found innocent.”
Heard reacted to the verdict by warning it “sets back the clock” for women’s rights and gives the impression that violence against women shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Azzopardi seemed to agree, criticising the jury for ignoring how Depp Depp had sent his friend a private message saying he will “f*** her burnt corpse to make sure she’s dead”.
“Many battered wives are afraid to speak out because people don’t believe them,” he said, recounting a case he had encountered whereby a woman ran away from abusive partner and no one believed her until he actually murdered her.
Do you agree with Peppi Azzopardi’s assessment?
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