‘God is above everything and everybody’ – Attorney General in Realtà appeal

The appeal filed by the Attorney General against the verdict acquitting author Alex Vella Gera and the editor of a student pamphlet Mark Camilleri, is pushing the line that “God is certainly bigger than the biggest of egos of even more famous writers.”

In its lengthy 32-page appeal of the verdict of Magistrate Audrey Demicoli, who liberated the two accused of obscenity charges, the Attorney General argues that Vella Gera admitted to having written his short story Li Tkisser Sewwi “on impulse” and “without any form of self-censorship”.

“He was free to write what he wanted without self-censorship,” Attorney General Peter Grech states in the appeal. “But the author must realize there are others living with him, whose ideas, preferences and tastes are unlike his; a society that must be protected, and its morality preserved.

“And there’s God above everything and above everyone, and God is certainly bigger than the biggest of egos of even more famous writers.”

Grech specifically quotes Vella Gera’s statement to the court in which he says he wanted to give readers total immersion in his first-person monologue, narrated by a sex-driven man who treats women sordidly, “without any moralism, in the sense that I didn’t include the voice of God saying ‘look you’re going wrong’.”

What would otherwise be interpreted as the absence of a conscience in the controversial character of Li Tkisser Sewwi, the Attorney General states in his appeal that Vella Gera exhibited “the apex of individualistic views to the detriment of the common good, that is trampled upon by those who, in their anti-juridical and contorted interpretation of freedom of expression, try to expose and impose their ego and individualistic interests to the detriment of the innocent.”

The Attorney General will also ask the Court of Appeal to consider that Vella Gera’s work was not in the public interest; that the witnesses Lino Spiteri, Profs. Kenneth Wain, Albert Gatt, Ranier Fsadni, Maria Grech Ganado, Adrian Grima and Toni Attard – presented by the defence – were not court experts and therefore expressed their subjective opinion; and that the short story does not constitute “an instrument of spiritual elevation or aesthetic pleasure”.

A total of 12 pages are dedicated to a lengthy exposition of the juridical interpretation of pornography, and its treatment by American, British, and Italian courts.

The appeal was filed on Tuesday afternoon literally within minutes of the expiry of the deadline established by law: 15 days from notification of the sentence

Vella Gera and Camilleri were acquitted on Monday 14 March by Magistrate Audrey Demicoli, who noted in her judgment that the law did not provide clear definitions of ‘pornography’ and ‘obscenity’, and that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Article 208 of the Criminal Code had been breached.

She also observed that the defendants were exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression.

The court also concluded that public morality was something that changed over time. It added that what offended public morals 20 or 30 years ago did not necessarily do so today.

Furthermore, the court added, the publication was available only to University and Junior College students, which it said were mature students who already had free access to a variety of media including books, newspapers and the internet.

The Labour party has condemned “the obscene decision” to appeal the acquittal.Labour MP Owen Bonnici says the appeal was made at the last minute, and that the government had sent a message that authors will be prosecuted in the Criminal Court and sent to prison for writing works of fiction.

“Government should see to the modernisation of our laws rather than persist in these draconian measures against the freedom of expression.”

The case goes back to 2009, when Camilleri and Vella Gera were separately charged with publishing and distributing pornographic and obscene material in the form of a short story titled Li Tkisser Sewwi, published in the left-wing student newspaper Ir-Realtà.

Reported to the police by the University Rector Juanito Camilleri – who also banned the paper from Campus grounds – the case sparked a raging debate on censorship and secularism.

Both Camilleri and the Vella Gera were accused of distributing obscene or pornographic material, and of undermining public morals or decency – under both the Criminal Code and the Press Act.

The story in question was first-person monologue narrated by a sex-driven Maltese man who objectified women and treated them in a sordid fashion. It also exposed his dilemma when being confronted with having feelings for one particular woman, and his inability to handle them.