Busuttil insists police ‘in Muscat’s grip’ over Azzopardi arraignment

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil insisted that the police, who are instituting criminal defamation charges against PN MP Jason Azzopardi, are “state apparatus in the grip of Joseph Muscat”.

Busuttil told MaltaToday that criminal defamation is a perfectly acceptable legal tool unless “manipulated by the government to intimidate the Opposition” and that Opposition MPs are only charged in court with criminal defamation in banana republics and dictatorial regimes.

However, when questioned whether he thinks that journalists charged with criminal defamation are also being intimidated by the government, Busuttil accused the journalist putting the question, of “distorting his message” and of “conflating two different issues”.

The PN leader was speaking in light of the criminal defamation complaint filed by former police commissioner Peter Paul Zammit against shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi.

Zammit filed his complaint at the start of the year over a press conference Azzopardi addressed last June. The press conference concerned a data protection investigation that found that a police inspector’s personal file, which was leaked to the press, had last been noticed in Zammit’s office, then commissioner.

The details of the internal investigation about inspector Elton Taliana were released in court as evidence by MaltaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan in a libel case instituted by Taliana against a MaltaToday journalist.

In Maltese law, criminal defamation has not yet been abolished – despite calls from the Council of Europe – and to this day, complaints to the police on libel and slander are followed up by executive police pressing charges on the plaintiffs’ behalf. The crime of criminal defamation carries a maximum three months’ imprisonment.

Although Zammit held no public position at the time of his complaint, Busuttil insisted that the former police commissioner was “in no way” a private citizen.

“Peter Paul Zammit is a former police commissioner and a former security coordinator for the CHOGM, whose salary was paid for through our taxes,” he said. “The issue Zammit has filed a defamation case about took place when he was police commissioner. Moreover, he is complaining about something that Jason Azzopardi had said in his capacity as a shadow minister, not in his capacity as a private citizen.

“The idea that the Prime Minister is peddling, that Zammit is a private citizen, is a lie. Indeed, it is not Zammit who has filed for defamation against Azzopardi, but the police – a state apparatus.”

Busuttil reiterated his pledge to remove criminal libel if elected Prime Minister, but refused to offer the same commitment towards striking defamation off the criminal code.

“Defamation is a legal tool that should be accessible to whoever requires it, but it should definitely not be manipulated by the government to attack a member of the Opposition.”

However, when asked whether he thinks that journalists charged by the police with criminal defamation are also being intimidated by the government, Busuttil turned cold and accused the journalist of trying to distort his message.

“Please, with all due respect, do not distort my message,” he said. “If you want to distort my message, go ahead and do it but I want to tell you that you are distorting my message. I already said that I would remove criminal libel if elected. Can I be clearer than that? This means that I don’t accept criminal libel against journalists. If you want to distort my message, go ahead and do it.

“There’s a difference between the two issues that you are trying to conflate. I am speaking about something completely different, so I expect a minimum of courtesy, for you to understand my message clearly. What I am saying is that it is unacceptable and intrinsically wrong for a government to use state apparatus to attack an Opposition member. This only occurs in dictatorial regimes and banana republics. Please register this.”

Azzopardi: AG’s advice ‘wrong’

On his part, shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi is arguing that the Attorney General has given the executive police the wrong advice.

“It’s not simply a case of a private citizen: firstly, it’s the police against an individual, when in criminal defamation it is legally possible to have the prosecution lie with the offended party when the case is instituted on the complaint of the injured party. And there are countless cases where the police brings the parties to court, but it’s the plaintiff who prosecutes the case.”

But when asked why he suspected that Zammit’s action was being ‘mandated’ by the government, Azzopardi claimed that Zammit had taken six months to institute the proceedings. “He took his time and it comes at a time when Opposition MPs are being targeted.”

In fact, Zammit informed PN secretary-general Rosette Thake in December 2015 that he demanded an apology from Azzopardi. When the two parties met in January, Azzopardi says he offered to issue a declaration in which he abides by the conclusions of the IDPC, but not to retract his comment as based on the facts presented by the IDPC.

Azzopardi insisted that Zammit’s decision to press with the complaint was not that of just any private citizen. “My criticism at the time of the press conference in June was aimed at his time when he was police commissioner, when the breach took place, and then as head of CHOGM security.”

‘S&D response written by Joseph Muscat’

The local political clash has been elevated to the level of the European Parliament, with the European People’s Party and the Socialists and Democrats both stepping in to defend the PN and Labour respectively.

EPP chairman Manfred Weber, a German MEP, warned that the Maltese government has become increasingly erratic and that the country is sliding down an authoritarian route. “Let’s not fool ourselves, this is indeed the Maltese government acting behind its henchmen,” he said. “We will not be fooled and we will not surrender.”

Busuttil shrugged off MaltaToday’s question on whether it was ironic for Weber to speak out, given that criminal defamation in Germany carries a maximum five years’ imprisonment.  

“Why are you going there? The EPP is scandalised by the manner in which an Opposition MP will be charged in court. If you can’t see that, then I’m sorry but we’re not living in the same country. I’m really sorry. If you’re going to feel scandalised because the EPP issued a press release in defence of an Opposition MP… I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. A minimum of decency…”

Then on Stuarday S&D chairman and Italian MEP Gianni Pitella accused Weber of “playing the PN’s biased partisan games”.

“The Socialists and Democrats will not accept this kind of tactic, particularly since it is amply clear that the PN’s intent – which is a member of the EPP – is to sabotage Malta’s position, moreover as the Maltese Presidency of the EU Council is approaching.”

When asked for his response to Pitella’s statement, Busuttil’s response was direct. “It was written by Joseph Muscat... very simple,” he said.