Judge orders blanket ban on discussion of Caruana Galizia murder, Yorgen Fenech

A judge has ordered a blanket ban on “writings, declarations or public discussions” on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder and Yorgen Fenech outside what happens in court.

Judge Edwina Grima handed down the ruling on Thursday as she ordered NEWZ.mt to pull down a video blog by Manuel Delia from its Facebook page. The request to sanction the news site was filed by Fenech’s lawyers.

NEWZ.mt has pulled down the video with a note saying it is doing so “under protest” and is exploring with its lawyers what action to take next.

In the blog, Delia discussed a previous controversy in which the same judge had ordered Lovin Malta to remove parts of an interview with lawyer Jason Azzopardi, who claimed Fenech was the sole mastermind in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder.

The Lovin interview had breached a previous court order that no evidence submitted in the case and which was deemed inadmissible by the court should be published or made reference to in public.

In her latest decree, Grima used the power given to her by the Criminal Code to prohibit, until the end of court proceedings, “writings, whether printed or not, and declarations or public discussions on the broadcast media and social media, on the crime and the person accused of the crime”.

The only exception are reports of court proceedings. Anybody found guilty of breaching the court’s order will be found in contempt of court.

The judge said she was handing down the ruling because “there are people who feel they can breach court orders with impunity”, adding that they believe they have a right to say what they want without considering the serious consequences of their actions. “This is done on the pretext of freedom of expression, which right should not serve as a hindrance to the right to a fair trial in every judicial process,” the judge said.

The blanket ban raises serious question marks as to whether any reference at all can be made to the Caruana Galizia murder and Yorgen Fenech’s alleged involvement in it when writing or commenting about the case outside the confines of a court report.

One recent example was a report on Edward Zammit Lewis’s selection as Malta’s nominee for EU court judge where reference to Yorgen Fenech and the murder case were made given that the former was embroiled in controversy a few years back when leaked WhatsApp chats showed he had a friendly relationship with Fenech.

The judge’s ruling does come, however, after a series of purported leaks over the years from the acts of the case despite a court decree prohibiting the publication of inadmissible evidence.

Caruana Galizia was murdered in October 2017 when a powerful bomb was detonated inside her car. Three men – George Degiorgio, Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat – are currently serving prison time after admitting their involvement in the crime. They procured, placed and detonated the bomb.

Another two, Jamie Vella and Robert Agius, are facing ongoing criminal proceedings after they were charged with supplying the bomb.

Fenech is awaiting trial over charges that he commissioned the assassination.