‘Anti-censorship front had four months to challenge bill’, ministry says

The Front Against Censorship said in a statement this afternoon that Labour leader Joseph Muscat had admitted his party was mistaken in voting for an amendment that strengthened the Criminal Code by criminalising ‘pornographic’ literature. 

Recent amendments to the Criminal Code that deal more severe punishments on pornography would harshly punish 'indecent' fiction which a court might consider to be pornographic.

Under these changes, writer Alex Vella Gera, the writer of the satirical piece Li Tkisser Sewwi in student newspaper Ir-Realtà, would have faced a maximum of 6 more months in prisons and a fine almost six times as much to reach a maximum of €3,000.

Article 208 of the Criminal Code,identifies, amongst other things, "producing, circulating, or possessing material which could be deemed pornographic a criminal offence if its intent was for distribution or for display in a public place." The law punished such offences with not more than 6 months of jail or a €465.87 fine, or both, but under the new amendments, the offence is now punishable by 6 to 12 months in jail or by a fine of between €1,000 and €3,000 or both.

The front said it expected a similar declaration from the Prime Minister as a sign that the government was genuinely committed to progressive reform.

But the justice ministry said the Front had four months to challenge the Bill between its introductin and its passing by a unanimous vote by both sides of the House.

The laws were part of a package dealing with child pornography, which now punishes by a term from one to five years any form of "indecent material" - including text - of minors "even if the minor is non-existent", "or of the sexual parts of a child or primarily sexual purposes"... spelling an unsure future for fictional literature.

It is unsure how a book like Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, whose fictional narrator is sexually obsessed with 12-year old Dolores (Lolita), would be treated in 21st century Malta... let alone a film or theatrical adaptation, since the banning of Stitching by the film classification board and a court judgement upholding the ban.

The Front is made up of Alternattiva Demokratika Żgħażagħ, Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti, Kollettiv Ir-Realtà, General Workers Union Youths, Unifaun Theatre Productions, Moviment Graffitti, Żminijietna, MOVE,Pulse, Kunsill Studenti Junior College, Il-Kunsill Nazzjonali taż-Żgħażagħ, and Writers Club.