Jason Azzopardi retracts claims that Owen Bonnici is a ‘criminal and a liar’

Owen Bonnici has dropped libel proceedings against former PN MP Jason Azzopardi after the latter withdrew claims that the former justice minister was a criminal and a liar

6 October 2022, 5:58pm
by Matthew Agius

1 min read

Owen Bonnici (left) dropped libel proceedings against Jason Azzopardi after the latter retracted defamatory statements

Jason Azzopardi has retracted a statement published on Facebook in 2019, in which he had denounced then justice minister Owen Bonnici as a “criminal and a liar”.

Azzopardi, a former PN MP, made the declaration in court earlier on Thursday as the libel case filed against him by Bonnici continued before Magistrate Rachel Montebello.

In view of Azzopardi’s retraction, the court noted that the parties had agreed that the issue had been settled.

Bonnici’s lawyer, Pawlu Lia, then withdrew the libel case filed over Azzopardi’s claims.

Lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel assisted Azzopardi in the proceedings.

Matthew Agius is Senior Reporter on Law and Court Affairs at MaltaToday. He is also a Leg...