Jason Azzopardi fined €300 over comments on Yorgen Fenech murder case

Jason Azzopardi was found to be in contempt of court and fined €300 over comments the court concluded were a clear reference to murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.

Other applications filed by Fenech were dismissed, with the court pointing to one request as unnecessary, adding that it would delay the criminal proceedings further. 

Lawyers assisting Fenech filed an application before the Criminal Court, bringing to its attention a Facebook post by Azzopardi in which he wrote:

“There are those who think that in five months’ time, before the jury, people will forget the fact that he had ordered the murder by starting a social media campaign today. The massive ordnance penetrator (a 30-tonne bomb) of facts, truth, recordings will crush and bury you.”

The businessman stands accused of complicity in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. He denies the charges.

The defence said that this was a clear reference to Fenech, and refers to the accused, implying that he is already guilty.

This alone constitutes a publication on the offence and the person accused, and is therefore in breach of previous court orders, Fenech’s lawyers said.

They also pointed out that the “massive ordnance penetrator” is an enormous bomb. They said it was unfair to make such an analogy, given that they are both involved in the same proceedings but on different sides.

Azzopardi is appearing as the lawyer for the Caruana Galizia family in that case.

The Criminal Court observed that it had previously admonished Azzopardi and given him some time to moderate his comments. However, with great displeasure, it noted that the lawyer did not hold back from making comments about the jury, putting the process at risk.

The court ruled that this amounted to contempt of court and fined the lawyer €300. He was once again admonished and told that no comments should be made in connection with the case or the accused.

Court allows publication of decree but imposes total ban on comments

In its decree, the Criminal Court said that while there was no ban on the publication of the decree, it ordered an absolute ban on the media, social media platforms, and blogs prohibiting any comments or opinions—whether journalistic or not—in connection with this decree and its previous decrees, in order not to prejudice the course of justice.

On Tuesday, the Criminal Court also handed down other decrees in connection with other applications filed by the accused, and rejected Fenech’s varied requests for more evidence to be presented before the trial by jury.

In the other applications, Fenech had asked the Criminal Court to order the prosecution to provide information about convicted hitman George Degiorgio’s request to testify before the inquiring magistrate and, in the eventuality that he had already testified, to present the testimony.

The court rejected the request, noting that the records of the case had already been sent before the Court of Magistrates, but Degiorgio had refused to testify. The Criminal Court had subsequently ordered that Degiorgio is to testify in the jury, either as a prosecution or defence witness, or by order of the court.

Given that Degiorgio is already on the witness list, the Criminal Court did not feel it had to revise its own decision.

In one of the decrees, the Criminal Court held that the accused could not embark on a fishing expedition and request evidence which he thinks is relevant to him, and which is part of other separate proceedings, to be included in the criminal proceedings against him.

The court held that the request was not necessary and would unnecessarily delay the criminal proceedings at this advanced stage, when the accused has all the evidence he needs to prepare his case.

Another application concerned separate proceedings against Edgar Brincat, known as il-Ġojja, and his daughter, Stephanie, in which former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar testified.

The defence said the testimony is needed to control the witness, and is relevant because Cutajar said he interfered to informally obtain “information” from middleman Melvin Theuma.

The defence argued that Brincat got involved with Cutajar so that Theuma would be awarded a presidential pardon.

In this case, the Criminal Court ruled that Cutajar is a prosecution witness and will testify in the jury, with the defence having the opportunity to cross-examine the witness.

To this end, the defence does not need a copy of the testimony found in separate and distinct proceedings.

The Criminal Court is being presided over by Madam Justice Edwina Grima.

AG lawyers Anthony Vella, Godwin Cini, and Danika Vella prosecuted. Lawyers Charles Mercieca and Gianluca Caruana Curran appeared for the accused. Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Therese Comodini Cachia appeared for the victim’s family.