Caruana Galizia fined €3,000 after losing libel case against former Illum editor

Blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia has been ordered to pay €3,000 in compensation to former Illum editor Julia Farrugia after a court found her guilty of libel and defamation.

The court also ordered her to foot the bill for Farrugia’s court expenses.

The case goes back to 2011, when Farrugia filed a libel case against Caruana Galizia, accusing the blogger of implicating her name to political episodes that she had nothing to do with.

In its sentence, Magistrate Francesco Depasquale ruled that Caruana Galizia had persistently tried to link Julia Farrugia with Raymond Caruana’s murder, in a series of articles penned in 2010 and 2011.

In particular, it noted a comment by Caruana Galizia in one of her blogs that read: “At least she [Farrugia] is not going to use a submachine gun on me (I hope)”.

“That comment gave the impression to ordinary readers that Farrugia had used a submachine gun in the past and that Caruana Galizia was hoping that she wouldn’t be the next victim,” the court sentence read.

Farrugia is the daughter of Karmenu Farrugia, who had been indicated by a court witness as the person responsible for the political killing of Raymond Caruana in 1986. Farrugia was nine years old at the time.

Moreover, it noted that the blogger had described Farrugia as "a bitch, a cow and a prostitute".

The court also dismissed Caruana Galizia’s argument that she had no control over what third parties chose to comment on her blogs, arguing that she had administrative control over what comments were published.