Manuel Delia awarded damages after court finds Simon Mercieca claims to be defamatory

Manuel Delia was awarded €1,000 in libel damages after a Court found that two publications made by Professor Simon Mercieca were defamatory against him.

The case surrounds two blogs in which Mercieca had claimed that the then chief of staff to former Nationalist Minister Austin Gatt deliberately sabotaged a deal to transfer the Mediterranean Film Studios in Kalkara to Keith Schembri eighteen years ago.

Indeed, it was claimed that Delia, out of “greed” acted in a mafia-like manner to prevent the deal.

Mercieca also stated that Delia, presently a civil society activist with NGO Repubblika, is a “hypocrite.”

The court, presided over by Magistrate Rachel Montebello, found the articles to be defamatory and also held that Mercieca failed to properly publish Delia’s right of reply.

It was noted that Mercieca’s claims were based on unreliable sources, false, or exaggerated, and that the claims damaged Delia’s reputation.

The academic was also fined €300 for his failure to adequately publish the aforementioned right of reply.

Lawyers Andrew Borg Cardona, Eve Borg Costanzi and Matthew Cutajar represented Delia.