Facebook call for the hanging of Repubblika activist lands man €300 fine and conditional discharge

Facebook comment calling for the murder of Repubblika President Robert Aquilina earns author €300 fine and a conditional discharge

Repubblika President Robert Aquilina had filed a police report after a Facebook user called for his hanging in the aftermath of a protest (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)
Repubblika President Robert Aquilina had filed a police report after a Facebook user called for his hanging in the aftermath of a protest (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

A Facebook comment calling for the murder of a prominent civil society activist has earned its author a €300 fine and a conditional discharge.

Joe Schembri, 45, had been charged with incitement in a Zebbug district sitting before Magistrate Nadine Lia last October, after calling for Repubblika President Robert Aquilina to be “hanged from the nearest lamppost” in a comment on Facebook.

Aquilina had testified, explaining that he had led and addressed a protest in March 2022, denouncing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, outside the Russian embassy. After the protest, zookeeper Anton Rea Cutajar had taken to Facebook to lash out at Aquilina, posting a photo of Aquilina taken during the protest. The accused, Schembri, had commented below the post writing that Aquilna should be hanged.

Defence lawyer Joe Sammut told the court that his client had no intention of being violent or inciting violence, and that such phrases “were common in the South.”

When the case began in October, Aquilina had asked for the magistrate’s recusal due to her family ties to Labour insiders. The magistrate had asked the prosecuting police inspector whether he agreed with the request, to which he had replied in the affirmative. However, when asked by the court to state the article of the law he was basing the recusal request on, the inspector replied that he was unable to recall the number on the fly. The court had then proceeded to reject the recusal request.

In a decision handed down today, Magistrate Lia found Schembri guilty as charged. He was conditionally discharged for one year and fined €300.

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi assisted Aquilina.