Online newspaper fined €3,000 over reader's comment

Former inewsmalta.com editor Aleander Balzan has been ordered to pay €3,000 in libel damages to former president of the PN executive Victor Scerri, over a comment made by a reader that was published underneath an online article.

The November 2013 article titled “Għall­-bejgħ ... il­-'farmhouse' kontroversjali fil-Baħrija,” dealt with the putting up for sale of a Bahrija property belonging to Scerri, which had been at the centre of an environmental controversy.

The issue had attracted the ire of one reader, who went by the name of “Gino”, who commented that Scerri, who is a prosecutor for a local tribunal, ought to be ashamed of himself, describing him as 'filth' and accusing him of profiting from the tribunal.

Scerri filed for libel on the basis of the publication of comment, which he felt to be defamatory in his regard.

The court noted that it had been proved that “Gino” had been permitted to upload the comment and that Aleander Balzan himself had described the comment of unpleasant.

Balzan, had, however qualified this description, saying that the article was about an environmental issue and that Scerri was a person in the public eye.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, in his judgement on the libel case, held that the comment had been a mudslinging effort against Scerri's integrity and his work in the tribunal. The court held that Gino's comment had nothing to do with the environment and had dealt solely with Scerri's professional duties in the tribunal.

The court held that the publication of the comment constituted defamatory libel, awarding €3,000 in damages.