Two men fined €3,000 each for Facebook hate speech

Two youths have been fined €3,000 each for inciting racial hatred on the internet, through racist comments that they posted in a public Facebook page called ‘Daqshekk ghall-Immigrazzjoni Llegali f'Malta’ [No more illegal immigration in Malta].

Last year, on 4 March underneath a photograph of a black man recovering in a hospital bed at Mater Dei Hospital, two Facebook users wrote “burn him” and suggested replacing the man’s saline drip with acid.

Both Christopher Pisani and Eric Cuschieri pleaded guilty and were find €3,000, although it is understood that the men intend to appeal the punishment.

Amongst the torrent of bile, another commentator had rued the fact that the hospital's windows could not be opened. Yet another advocated removing the man's intravenous drip, burning the sheets and replacing him with a Maltese patient.

It is not known whether any other individuals have been prosecuted for the comments.

Pisani and Cuschieri were arraigned by writ of summons before magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit earlier today, after the police force's Cybercrime Unit received a report from a member of the public with screenshots of the torrent of objectionable comments by the Facebook group's members.