Former National Book Council chairman Mark Camilleri is claiming that publishing the WhatsApp chats between former Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar and Yorgen Fenech was a matter of public interest, insisting that he breached no court ban since his source was not the court file.
Camilleri made those claims in a constitutional case he filed on Thursday following an order issued by Madam Justice Edwina Grima for police authorities to take criminal action against the author.
As a journalist, Camilleri had a legal right to protect the anonymity of his source while publishing information that was in the public interest, he argued in the application filed before the First Hall, Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction.
This was the latest twist in the saga that stemmed from material published when promoting his book, A Rent Seeker’s Paradise.
That material included transcripts of conversations between Cutajar and Fenech, who has since been accused of complicity in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Cutajar promptly filed libel proceedings against Camilleri rebutting the allegations and asking for inversion of the burden of proof, which meant that it was up to Camilleri to prove the veracity of those allegations.
By way of defence, he produced the WhatsApp chats between Cutajar and Fenech and also uploaded them on his website.
But that move triggered a series of actions culminating in an order by the Criminal Court for the Police Commissioner to take criminal action against Camilleri since that publication breached a previous court order banning publication of material from the records of the murder case.
Now Camilleri is claiming that such an order, taken without his version ever having been heard, amounted to a breach of his fundamental rights to freedom of expression and fair trial.
The Criminal Court had reached its decision without the police having heard what Camilleri had to say about the whole matter, even though he had emailed the Police Commissioner.
Moreover, the authorities were assuming that he had obtained the WhatsApp chat transcripts from the court records.
But Camilleri denied that that was his source, adding that, therefore, he had breached no court order.
The public had a right to be informed especially on matters of public interest and it was up to journalists and investigative journalists like himself to supply the information while safeguarding sources.
After the chats were published the government took “drastic” action against the MP leading to her resignation.
That clearly proved that the chats were doubtlessly in the public interest.
Further confirmation lay in a recent decision by the Broadcasting Authority in a case filed by the PN against PBS.
As for the order against him by the Criminal Court, Camilleri stressed that such an order could not be enforced against him since he was defending himself in the libel case filed against him.
It was now clear that Cutajar had filed the libel suit in “frivolous and vexatious” manner, asking for the burden of proof to be shifted onto the defendant.
That meant that Camilleri had every right to produce the best evidence and the WhatsApp chats were the best evidence to prove the intimate relationship that existed between Cutajar and Fenech.
In the application he cited four examples to drive home the point that publication of chats wad in the public interest.
* A Bulgari bag worth thousands Cutajar got from Yorgen Fenech as a gift for helping him clinch the deal on Mdina property worth €1 million.
* A Dragonara scandal wherein the government granted land without a public call.
* The €9, 000 in cash Cutajar received as brokerage fees.
* Cutajar's comment about "everyone pigging out" and how she would join the rest at the trough by seeking a consultancy with "Pierre at ITS" to pocket another salary.
The author was now seeking recourse before the constitutional courts, requesting the court to declare that publication of the chats was in the public interest and that the order by Judge Grima breached his fundamental rights.
He also asked the court to quantify and liquidate damages payable by the respondents, namely the State Advocate, the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General.
Lawyers Joseph Mizzi, David Bonello and Deborah Chappell signed the application.