All comments and publications outside court hearings related to Yorgen Fenech’s murder case have been banned by a judge who observed there are “people who feel they may breach court orders with impunity”.
The court-imposed ban was detailed in a decree on Thursday - a copy of which was to be affixed at the entrance to the law courts and published in the Government Gazette and two local newspapers - one in Maltese and another in English.
The decree was prompted by an application filed by Fenech’s lawyers drawing the judge’s attention to comments made by civil society activist and blogger Manuel Delia on NEWZ.mt.
The judge ordered the removal of Delia's comments, which were made on the same day that Madam Justice Edwina Grima ordered the Caruana Galizia family lawyer Jason Azzopardi to delete his Facebook posts about Fenech, including comments he had made during an interview with Lovin Malta.
During that pre-trial hearing on September 5, the judge voiced concern about the possible prejudice such comments could cause to the trial.
She ordered that no party was to make any public comment about “the guilt or otherwise of the accused who was to date an innocent person”.
That order was intended so that potential jurors at the upcoming trial would not be compromised.
But that same day, more comments in a similar vein by Delia were published on NEWZ.mt.
On Thursday the judge imposed a ban on all such declarations - written or otherwise - until Fenech’s case was over.
A previous order confirmed by the Court of Criminal Appeal had banned references on all news portals and social media to certain evidence that was judged to be inadmissible, she said, adding that evidence was not to be brought to the knowledge of potential jurors.
Sharing or publication of any documents from the records of the case was also prohibited. Yet those court orders were being “repeatedly ignored,” said Madam Justice Grima on Thursday.
It appeared there were "people who feel that they can breach court orders with impunity”.
“They think that they have the right to say what they will without considering the serious consequences of their actions, doing so under the pretext of the right to freedom of expression.”
“That right was not to hinder the right to a fair hearing," she added.
Citing article 517 of the Criminal Code, the judge decreed that until Fenech’s case came to an end, any declaration or public discussion - in favour or against the accused - was prohibited.
That ban did not extend to reports on hearings in open court where media presence was allowed.
Whoever breached this court order would be guilty of contempt, warned the judge, ordering the publication of this decree and also ordering NEWZ.mt to pull down every declaration or evaluation of evidence expressed by Manuel Delia on September 5.
Following that decree, NEWZ.mt announced that they were taking down the relative Manuel Qal episode as ordered by the court but said that they were doing so “under protest".
They said they were consulting with their lawyers over any possible future action.