Former minister Evarist Bartolo has criticised a police decision to criminally charge a satirist over a Facebook comment he posted.

The comment that Matthew Bonanno made was “obviously satirical”, Bartolo wrote, adding that “it makes no sense to send someone to prison or fine them for using humour as a weapon when commenting about serious issues”.

Bartolo served as Education and Foreign Affairs Minister before calling time on his political career in 2022, and previously lectured in communications at the University of Malta.

In a Facebook post about the police's decision to press charges against Bonanno, he argued that a democratic society “is measured by the extent to which it tolerates criticism and prickly comments”.

Malta had progressed in many ways, he said, noting that in the past the country had jailed cartoonists, shut down newspapers and condemned people with mortal sin.

Nowadays, censorship laws have been relaxed and carnival floats are free to lampoon public figures and politicians. But, Bartolo said, “there’s still more to be done to strengthen freedom of expression and journalists’ protection”.

Bonanno, who is the founder and editor of satirical news site Bis-Serjetà, has been charged with misusing electronic equipment to threaten the commission of a crime, in relation to a Facebook comment he posted a year ago, in January 2022.

In that comment, Bonanno implied that evangelical group River of Love should be carpet bombed, along with all of Buġibba. “Two birds with one stone,” he added.

If found guilty of the crimes, Bonanno could be fined up to €50,000 or jailed for one year.

At the time when Bonanno posted that comment, River of Love was making headlines due to an alleged murderer’s potential ties to it.

Abner Aquilina, who is charged with murdering Paulina Dembska on January 2 of that year, had allegedly attended a River of Love meeting on the night before the murder and spent the hours before Dembska was killed at the home of a River of Love member.

The comments that landed Bonanno in legal trouble.

Police questioned members of the evangelical group in the days following Dembska’s murder.

River of Love pastor Gordon Manché has vehemently denied any ties to Aquilina and has started legal action in an attempt to force Times of Malta to remove seven articles related to the Dembska murder in which River of Love is mentioned.

Former minister Evarist Bartolo. Photo: Jonathan Borg

Manché is also the person who filed a criminal complaint against Bonanno concerning his Facebook post, the court summons indicates.

Bonanno has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to help fund his legal defence against the criminal case.