A hunting enthusiast has been slapped a suspended jail term and €3,000 fine for hate speech after writing on Facebook that BirdLife activists who took legal action to stop spring hunting should be beaten up. 

Stephen Micallef was arraigned before Magistrate Ian Farrugia over comments he uploaded beneath a Facebook post by hunting minister Clint Camilleri last April. 

On April 11, BirdLife Malta had asked the courts to stop the then-upcoming spring hunting season for turtle doves, due to start on April 17. 

BirdLife has argued that hunting for turtle doves breached the European Birds Directive and it requested a judicial assessment on how the government had permitted the hunting season for the bird to go ahead. 

Two days later, Minister Clint Camilleri, who is responsible for the regulation of hunting and is a hunter himself, posted on Facebook that the government had asked the court to treat the matter with urgency. (The court later allowed the season to go ahead.)

It was under that Facebook post that Micallef made the comment that landed him in court. 

The comment that landed Stephen Micallef with a hate speech conviction

“Well done to FKNK because we would have otherwise lost everything,” Micallef said. “We often complain and criticise the association, but there are so many cowboys, how come nobody has given these people a good beating? Because now it's too much, they are asking for it, then they will turn around and say that hunters are stupid, but how much can you tolerate these garbage people.”  

Micallef was found guilty of hate speech by Magistrate Ian Farrugia, who sentenced him to a six-month jail term suspended for three years as well as a €3,000 fine. 

Inspector Dorianne Tabone led the prosecution and lawyer Edmond Cuschieri appeared for the defendant.