A recently-formed political party has demanded a police investigation into comments on media portals and social media outlets linking it to the gruesome murder of a Polish student early on January 2.

ABBA party leader Ivan Grech Mintoff filed a police report at the Naxxar police station and wrote to the police commissioner, saying slanderous comments were being made online linking the party to the murder.

ABBA is a new Maltese political party that intends to contest the forthcoming general election. It has pledged to lobby for “Christian” values.

The party was brought into the fray following media reports that Abner Aquilina, 20, the prime suspect of the murder of 29-year-old Paulina Dembska, was a member of the party.

A Lovin Malta report stated that "many have questioned possible links between Aquilina and religious groups, including ABBA, after a video taken on New Year’s Eve by an ABBA and River of Love supporter at the beach along with Aquilina went viral.”

Grech Mintoff denied any links to Aquilina, telling Lovin Malta that he is not or has ever been a paid-up member of ABBA.

He said that while the article itself was not slanderous, comments beneath it were, and the news site had not deleted them “as they often have done in the past, [taking it] from a sin of omission to an action for which they must be held responsible”. 

Grech Mintoff claimed that Lovin Malta was not acting because it wanted to discredit ABBA's push to have a referendum on recently-changed cannabis laws. The party wants that new law repealed.  

“There is no connection between ABBA and the suspect. None. Zero. And to suggest there is an association of any kind is slanderous. It is sad to see this tragedy politicised by those that seek to prevent our signature collection for a referendum [on the new recreational cannabis law].

"We have asked the Police Commissioner to look at these attacks and to see if these attacks on ABBA and our members are illegal,” Grech Mintoff told Times of Malta when contacted to confirm the police report.

He told the police that despite his repeated denials, people posting comments underneath articles were still linking the two, with “slanderous and insulting comments” insinuating that ABBA was somehow involved.

"The reporting has forced some of our members to request police protection as they feared a further escalation of matters,” Grech Mintoff wrote.