Abela’s defence of Cutajar ‘destroying the country and the party’, Camilleri tells protestors

Prime Minister Robert Abela’s insistence in protecting criminals, is harming the party and the country, author Mark Camilleri said.

“He lost his mind,” Camilleri told activists gathered in Valletta for a protest organised by Repubblika in solidarity with the author. He was addressing activists through a video-link.

On Tuesday, Camilleri published a full unredacted transcript of Rosianne Cutajar and Yorgen Fenech’s Whatsapp chat, just 24 hours before he was due to face her in court in a libel case the MP had filed against him, in which she had denied having a relationship with Fenech, who is indicted for the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

The leaked chats appear to indicate, amongst other things, that Cutajar and Fenech had been in an intimate relationship and that Cutajar had received expensive gifts from the Tumas magnate which she had failed to declare.

The day after the chat was leaked, Cutajar’s lawyers wrote to the Attorney General, arguing that the public prosecutor must inform the court and request an investigation into the leaks. The Attorney General obliged without delay and the Court had subsequently ordered the police to investigate Camillleri.  

Acting with unprecedented, blinding speed, the investigation was concluded the next day, with the Police Commissioner informing the judge that the chats had been confirmed to be the same as those exhibited during the criminal proceedings against Fenech and therefore were subject to the November 2021 ban.

The author told activists he could not understand why Abela was still defending the MP.

“While I am sorry, they are destroying Labour, there are no more excuses – they are criminals and they are protecting criminals,” he said. “The party needs to be destroyed, and rebuilt.”

Camilleri said people should forget their differences, and band together to ensure there is a “normal government and not a criminal one.”

“The Maltese need to band together and rebuild Malta,” he said.

The author also said the Labour Party can no longer remain in power, as it has no vision other than to continue “pigging out.”

“The common aim now is to ensure that we have normality, we can settled our political differences later,” he said.

Repubblika will not abandon Mark Camilleri – Robert Aquilina

Repubblika president Robert Aquilina pledged the NGO won’t abandon Mark Camilleri.

Camilleri, according to Aquilina, just carried out what Rosianne Cutajar, the government, and the law courts demanded of him.

"We will not accept that the person who exposed the evidence be imprisoned," Aquilina stated.

He turned his criticism to three people, who at some point, were trusted with some of the highest roles in the country: former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà, and the Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg.

Aquilina pointed out that, like Cutajar, Muscat had challenged Repubblika for proof.

“Where is the evidence?” had become the new slogan of Joseph Muscat’s government and after him, of Robert Abela’s. They challenged to present evidence and when we took this evidence to Court, they went into a state of panic.”

Aquilina said that now Joseph Muscat is feeling justice creeping up on him because only the “corrupt Prime Minister” knows what was truly going on.

"The Corrupt Prime Minister and his associates are terrified because they know whenever they challenge us to bring proof, we deliver and broadcast it for all to see."