Police inspector in libel suit wants magistrate recused

A police inspector, Elton Taliana, has demanded that a magistrate hearing a libel suit he filed against MaltaToday be recused for having already presided over a libel suit Taliana filed against another newspaper.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale told Taliana’s lawyer Joseph Zammit Maempel to file a writ, after the lawyer demanded the recusal on grounds of lacking impartiality after having presided over a separate defamation case.

Magistrate Depasquale handles the bulk of the defamation and libel cases presented in court.

The request was made during libel proceedings initiated by Taliana against MaltaToday journalist Raphael Vassallo over an article reporting that the inspector had been investigated internally by the police, in relation to an arson attack on Saviour Balzan’s residence in Naxxar in 2006.

Zammit Meampel held that Depasquale should recuse himself from his client’s case because of a ruling the magistrate gave on a separate case. In April, the former editor of It-Torca, Aleks Farrugia, was acquitted of libelling Taliana because its report on the wrongful arrest of Darryl Luke Borg was “substantially correct”. 

The newspaper had reported in August 2013 that Taliana knew that Borg had been remanded in custody after being charged by mistake, but did nothing to alert his superiors and make amends. 

Zammit Maempel said the magistrate should recuse himself for having decided on this libel suit.

Three years ago Borg was arrested in connection with a hold-up at a Birkirkara shop following an investigation by the CID. A few days later, however, another person, Roderick Grech, admitted to the crime in a separate investigation. The investigation was led by Taliana who opened libel proceedings against It-Torca after feeling aggrieved by the report which said that he had been aware of the mistake but did nothing.