A court has been asked to postpone hearings in ongoing libel cases filed by disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat and his wife against Daphne Caruana Galizia indefinitely, in view of a constitutional case filed by her heirs last week. “If someone is filing a case after an inquiry established that she has been murdered, how can I defend her? The lawyer pointed to the system adopted by the UK, where if either plaintiff or the defendant died before the conclusion of the libel case, the proceedings were declared extinct. “Under Maltese law this option does not exist, so I needed to file a constitutional case explaining that it is impossible for me to make a defence. Zammit Maempel argued that he could not see any other option for the Court of Magistrates but to follow the decision of the Constitutional court and put this case on hold until a definitive decision on the constitutional issue.

Source: Libya Today June 20, 2023 10:42 UTC