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Editor insists that former SMU members should not be exonerated
By our Court Reporter

“Former SMU (the Special Assignment Group’s Labour-led predecessor) members should not be exonerated from the infamous shooting sprees that happened in the eighties”, Saviour Balzan told Mr Justice Albert Magri presiding over the Civil Court .

Mr Balzan, editor of the Sunday newspaper MaltaToday, was giving evidence in proceedings instituted against him by Joseph John Grech, a former SMU member. The latter filed a libel suit after the editor wrote how he “did not believe Mr Grech and his buddies can be exonerated from SMU’s shooting spree in the eighties”. The comments were run in an editorial on the MaltaToday.

The witness told the court that in the eighties he had been a political activist and that he remembered various incidents – although he could not specify dates – where the SMU had intervened in environmental protests. Mr Balzan described this interference as both abnormal and radical and said that fire-arms were also used.

When asked whether, at the time, he was acting as journalist and whether he was affiliated with any political party, the witness denied both, adding that he had been simply active in environmental groups and that he used to take part in the day’s political activities.

During the cross-examination the defendant was asked whether he could positively identify the plaintiff as being an SMU member. Mr Balzan replied that he used to see him and recognised him. The defendant added that he had remarked on various occasions – including on Lou Bondi’s television programme – that it was a mistake to pinpoint Grech in the particular case being discussed and that his comments were intended to be global rather than specific, and that one could not exonerate the plaintiff’s colleagues from blame.

Mr Balzan replied in the negative when asked whether he remembered the date the comments were published, upon which the plaintiff’s lawyers informed the court that it was exactly two weeks after Grech had been acquitted by the Criminal Court from blame in the shooting incident, that the editorial appeared.

Dr Edward Zammit Lewis, acting for the plaintiff, asked the witness whether he felt that writing the comments after Grech was acquitted in a public trial was fair. Mr Balzan replied that his comments were not related to the specific incident and that his comment was was that the SMU as a unit should not be exonerated from blame.

The case continues. Dr. Phillip Manduca is appearing for the defendant.