One News sued over Republic Day Special Olympics insult story

Blogger and civil society activist Manuel Delia has filed libel proceedings against Labour news outlet One Productions Ltd, its Chairman Jason Micallef, Broadcasting Executive Group Head Ruth Vella and Head of News and Current Affairs Owen Galea over a story which insinuated that he had insulted Special Olympics athletes during protests on Republic Day.

Describing the protests as “violent” and alleging that stones and coins were thrown at cars in the “assaults on the Parliament building and the Auberge de Castille” the piece, which was published on Sunday, stated that “it was not only the police and members of the Armed Forces who bore the brunt of insults during the performance of their duties. But also the athletes from the Special Olympics who happened to be entering the Palace of the President, where they were going to receive a medal for their service to the republic.”

It went on to report that lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona had written on Facebook that he was one of the protestors and had challenged the police to take action against him.

Although the article does not mention Delia, the accompanying photograph is of the activist standing behind a barricade.

The court application says that the article and photographs were, “besides being false and defamatory, intended to cause damage to the reputation of the plaintiff, apart from putting him in danger.”

In a blog post reacting to the story, Delia said “My friends and I are receiving all sorts of messages and threats, some privately and some publicly now. We’re being invited to cut our veins. And they don’t even ask nicely. You can switch your mind off to things people say on Facebook for some time. It becomes a bit harder when people shout at you in the street in broad daylight. That’s tough to explain to your children.”

Lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona signed the court application.