The Nationalist Party has protested in court that Public Broadcasting Services has breached a court order banning the broadcasting of a Budget advert and other politically partisan slots.

The court issued the order on Monday when it provisionally upheld a request for a warrant of prohibitory injunction following a PN protest.

Party general secretary Michael Piccinino told a press conference that the PN was calling on the court to take action over the violation of its orders and to give a remedy to the PN. 

He pointed out that in terms of the law, the broadcast of politically-partisan advertising was illegal unless it was part of a Broadcasting Authority scheme. 

He said the authority itself had issued charges against PBS because of its broadcasting of a spot which broke the law. 

Piccinino also reacted to Labour Party claims that through its actions, the PN wanted to send PBS employees to prison. 

He said the PN did not ask for anybody to be sent to prison. It was the management of PBS which had broken the law, not the workers. And it would seem that for Labour, people could go about breaking the law as if nothing had happened, Piccinino said.

Earlier, Culture Minister Owen Bonnici, who is responsible for public broadcasting, while accusing the PN of wanting to send workers to jail, said  the PN wanted to stop PBS broadcasting spots which had even been carried on its own Net TV.

It was worrying, he said, that PN leader Bernard Grech did not want people to know what was in the Budget and his tactics were shameful.