Appeals court awards Lawrence Gonzi moral damages over Orizzont editorial

A court of appeal has ruled that a 2010 editorial in L-Orizzont contained defamatory statements about the Prime Minister of the time, Lawrence Gonzi, awarding the former PM moral damages.

Gonzi filed the case against Josef Caruana as editor of L-Orizzont over an editorial entitled "Giddieb bil-Provi" (A Proven Liar) which was published on 15 November 2010.

The allegations were made in the midst of the political controversy surrounding the contract between local energy provider Enemalta and Danish company BWSC for the extension of the Delimara power station.

The editorial had referred to a declaration made by Gonzi on TV programme Bondi+ on 18 October 2010, in which he claimed to have instructed the government representatives on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to vote for a continued debate on the Auditor General's report concerning the BWSC deal.

But when, after the programme aired, the four government members had actually voted against the summoning of other witnesses before the PAC, Caruana wrote an editorial calling the Prime Minister a liar.

The appeal was filed after a court of magistrates had not upheld Gonzi's claim.

The court of appeal, presided by Mr Justice Anthony Ellul, held that the comments had been aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the Prime Minister at the time.

The defence had argued that at the time the article was published, even the leader of the Opposition had described the Prime Minister as a liar. The court, however, observed that instead of reporting Joseph Muscat's comments, the editor had chosen to repeatedly declare that Gonzi was a liar.

"The defendant was not acting in good faith since he discarded the truth which could easily have been verified," the judge held.

Gonzi's declaration on Bondi+ had been an instruction to vote in favour of the debate and had made no reference summoning witnesses before the PAC, it said.

The court dismissed the defence's argument about the editorial comments being a value judgment, holding that such judgments still needed to be based on facts.

Overturning the judgment of the magistrate's court, the judge ruled that the editorial comments were defamatory and ordered the editor of L-Orizzont to pay €600 by way of moral damages.

The judgement comes on the same day as another appeal decision against L-Orizzont, this time filed by Nationalist MP Toni Bezzina over an article which alleged that he had engaged government workers to carry out maintenance works on the Zurrieq PN club. The appeal overturned a judgment by a court of magistrates which had held that the article did not constitute libel. Bezzina was awarded €300 in moral damages.