Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti apologised on Tuesday after press photographers were banned from covering the ceremony marking the opening of the forensic year at the law courts. 

Photographers who turned up at the law courts for the annual ceremony were stopped from entering. Only photographers of the Department of Information and those from the Office of the President and the Office of the Prime Minister were allowed in.   

The Institute of Maltese Journalists (IĠM) said it had been told by the Court Services Agency that the decision was made by the Chief Justice.

But in a statement, the chief justice said there appeared to have been a miscommunication and it had never been his intention to ban the press photographers. 

No such ban had ever been made in his years as chief justice, he said.  

"What happened was a genuine mistake," the chief justice said, as he apologised.