IĠM hits out at Parliament Speaker over report on Castille journalist lockup

The Institute of Maltese Journalists (IĠM) has lambasted Speaker of the House Anġlu Farrugia for failing to provide a copy of the report investigating the 2019 detention of journalists at Castille.

"Although IĠM's request was rejected and, in a highly controversial and debatable decision, the report was not published, it was still leaked to a mediahouse. It was imagined that, as the complainant body, IĠM should at least be provided with a courtesy copy, but this expectation was in vain," the institute said in a statement.

"The IĠM cannot but interpret this behavior of the Speaker as a collusion intended only to try to cover up undemocratic behavior towards the media."

IĠM had lodged an official complaint with the Standards Commissioner about the incident, and subsequently met Commissioner George Hyzler and provided him a dossier of information on the incident. 

However, during a parliamentary meeting within the Standards in Public Life Committee, members failed to reach a consensus on whether the report should be published, as government representatives wished to have the House Speaker issue a ruling on whether the report by the Standards Commissioner goes beyond the powers granted to him by law.

The Speaker subsequently ruled that the report must not be published for the time being. 

However, the report was leaked to and published by Lovin Malta on Wednesday, revealing that the Standards Commissioner found the incident to be an abusive show of power.

"The assignment of party loyalists as unofficial security personnel is at best incorrect and abusive. This is a serious issue that calls into question the institutional integrity of Maltese government and the separation that should exist between state and party," the report reads.