Robert Abela has promised legislative reforms “in the coming hours” in response to court cases against artists stemming from complaints by River of Love pastor Gordon John Manché.  

Speaking to journalists on Monday morning during a Labour Party activity, Abela said the government will not allow free speech to be stifled.

Last week, Teatru Malta’s artistic director Sean Buhagiar was questioned by the police after he called out Manché's actions and repeated a satirical quip about carpet bombing River of Love in defence of two satirists. 

Comedian Daniel Xuereb and satirist Matt Bonanno had earlier been reported to the police by Manché and are facing court action.

Without going into details, Abela said a first reading of the reforms will be introduced to parliament and discussed in cabinet, with a final proposal then being discussed in parliament.  

It is understood that the first reading of a Bill will be moved in parliament on Monday. 

Ministers Owen Bonnici and Byron Camilleri have also hit out at “abuse” of the law by Manché.  

Manché had also filed a judicial protest against Times of Malta demanding that articles linking his Christian evangelical community to the alleged murderer of a Polish woman be taken down from the website.  

Planning reforms  

Abela was also asked on Monday after promises he made on May 1 to introduce planning reforms to freeze developments that were subject to an appeal.  

He said discussions were underway, as this required an amendment to the main laws governing planning.  

He said these amendments would “definitely” be introduced this year.  

The planning law anomaly has allowed all sorts of developers – from construction moguls to Infrastructure Malta and even Minister Ian Borg – to press ahead with construction projects even while appeals against them were still pending.