Updated | Cyrus Engerer gets suspended sentence but can still run for MEP

Labour candidate for the European elections Cyrus Engerer has been condemned to a two-year jail term, suspended for two years – but he will still be able to run for the EP elections after an amendment to election laws agreed in parliament in March.

The court said it was satisfied that the prosecution had proven that Engerer had disseminated compromising pictures on the internet of a former boyfriend of his. Engerer was ordered not to communicate with his victim or the victim’s family for one year.

The first court had acquitted Engerer in 2013 but the decision was overturned on appeal.

The decision was handed down by Mr Justice Michael Mallia in a 17-page appeals court judgment.

Still MEP candidate

But persons serving a suspended jail term will be eligible to vote and contest in all elections.

In March, justice minister Owen Bonnici presented amendments to the Constitution and various voting laws, allowing persons serving a suspended sentence to vote and allowing voters, including hospital patients to cast their vote in advance.

Under the previous law, anyone serving a sentence of imprisonment or a suspended sentence above 12 months could not participate in the election.

Currently, inmates serving a jail term in access of 12 months are unable to vote, while those serving a sentence of under a year are allowed to vote and contest.

Ironically, the amendments allow far-rightist Norman Lowell to contest, despite having been convicted on appeal in July 2013 for inciting racial hatred.

Owen Bonnici had said the “novelty” in allowing persons serving a suspended sentence was in line with European norms. He explained that 14 European countries allowed prisoners to vote, whatever the length of their sentence.

The proposal enjoyed the backing of the Opposition. Instead the PN voted against amendments allowing patients and elderly care centre residents to vote two days before election day.

PN reaction

The PN took typical pleasure in the unwelcome turn of events for Engerer, a former PN candidate who ditched the party when still deputy mayor of the Sliema local council, in protest at Lawrence Gonzi's opposition to divorce, in the run-up to the referendum campaign.

"The court sentence is clear proof of Joseph Muscat's political immaturity in accepting inside his party a person facing such serious charges, just to score a political goal," the PN said.

At the time of the charges, filed after a 2009 police report made by Engerer's former boyfriend, the PN did not take any disciplinary steps against the Sliema councillor. In fact, Engerer was appointed Sliema deputy mayor after his predecessor was elected mayor in the wake of the departure of former Nationalist mayor Nikki Dimech, on suspicion of charges relating to misappropriation of funds.

"Muscat cannot stay silent and evade his political responsibilty on this case," the PN said. "He should demand an apology from the public for fielding a Laboru candidate while he was accused of such a serious criminal charge."

Cyrus Engerer, who is also engaged as a consultant to the equality ministry as chairman of the LGBT consultative council, authored a party-sponsored biography of Joseph Muscat in the run-up to the 2013 election.

Details of the Engerer case

Engerer was acquitted on 5 June 2013 of copying and sharing data from a personal computer, sharing pornographic material and vilifying his former partner, after the Court of Magistrates ruled that the case was based on circumstantial evidence.

His former partner and victim Marvic Camilleri also dropped his charges, which he reported back in December 2009, but the case had to be closed in court by a magistrate’s verdict. The Attorney General appealed the acquittal.

The Appeals Court noted that Engerer had spent a number of years in a relationship with Camilleri, residing at the latter’s house in Floriana. Sometime after the relationship terminated, colleagues of Camilleri started receiving emails, including photos showing him in explicitly embarrassing poses. The victim told officers he suspected it was his previous partner who was disseminating the material.

Engerer refused to reply to the police’s questioning. Investigations revealed that the email from which the photos had been sent had been accessed nine times from the Mosta address of Engerer’s mother’s home, where he had been living at the time.

The same email was also accessed from the GasanMamo offices in Rabat where the accused regularly visit a friend of his. Engerer also accessed the email account while he was away in Brussels.

Mr Justice Michael Mallia concluded that although circumstantial, the evidence left no doubt that it was Engerer who had disseminated the emails. “No other person had an interest in shaming Camilleri at that particular period of his life,” the judge said.

Inspector James Grech prosecuted.