Court awards Tony Zarb €2,000 in Vince Farrugia defamation case
The court held that while it was true that the complainant occupied a position open to public scrutiny and subject to fair comment, the right of freedom of expression was counterbalanced by the right to the individual’s protection of his reptutation.
Tony Zarb has been awarded €2000 in damages after a court held that comments made in his regard by former Director General of the GRTU, Vince Farrugia, on PBS program TVAM were defamatory and false.
Farrugia had described Zarb as “fascist” and accused him of manipulating the minutes of a MCESD meeting, “in order to systematically attack all who disagree with him and therefore inciting violence”.
During the TVAM broadcast, Farrugia had said, “these people are systematically, in my opinion, in a fascist manner, targeting employers or leaders of unions who disagree with them”.
Magistrate Depasquale noted that during a meeting in November, Farrugia had referred to GWU members as “rats”.
The court held that while it was true that the complainant occupied a position open to public scrutiny and subject to fair comment, the right of freedom of expression was counterbalanced by the right to the individual’s protection of his reptutation.
The accusation of making changes to the minutes was not upheld after it emerged that while the minutes to the meeting were amended, adding statements on the request of the GWU, these changes were approved in a subsequent meeting.