Sorry, but I was busy
I have asked the police to protect my great integrity
On Friday evening when I returned home at 6pm, I found a police officer lying in wait at the gate with a request that I go in for interrogation immediately.
I informed him that it was not convenient because I had a prior engagement, and that I was in no mood to speak to the police anyway, given the incomplete – and in at least one case, completely false – information members of the force had leaked to selected news media in my regard only recently, a supreme irony given that the police had just told The Times that it would be ‘unethical’ of them to speak about the nature of the magistrate’s complaint against me.
The officer dialled some numbers on his mobile phone and held it out to me to speak to some other officer he had called. I told him that I had no wish to speak to the other officer and he held out the phone while I told them both very loudly and at a distance what I thought of them, and what a shame it is that there’s no one you can call when the police are hanging around your gate to nab you as you enter and exit, when you have said already that you are not available to rush to police headquarters there and then just because somebody said so.
At that point, I was distracted and failed to close the gate properly. My Neapolitan mastiff, who attacks all intruders and who becomes violent when anyone presents himself at the gate, especially when that someone is wearing a hat or a helmet, escaped and made straight for the officer, who fortunately made it to his car in time. Meanwhile I screamed in terror, beset by visions of my dog being forcibly put down for going for a policeman’s jugular.
I went in to get changed, while the home telephone and my mobile phone rang incessantly and I ignored both, damned if I was going to let the police ruin my evening because they had decided the magistrate’s and Musumeci’s complaint had to be dealt with on Friday night.
When I left home an hour later, the officer was still in his car keeping watch, not at the gate – no doubt in case I accidentally let the dogs out again (perhaps he thought they were equipped with can-openers) – but at the end of the lane so that he could see me leaving and returning.
I parked my car when I saw him, got out and asked him what he was doing there, spying on me. He told me he had orders to stay there. I told him he could stay there the rest of the night for all I cared and I was not going to police headquarters that evening, nor was I going to entertain any telephone calls from his superiors on a matter that could easily wait until the more appropriate time of Monday morning.
When my husband and I returned home at 1.30am that night, a police car miraculously appeared at our gate, seemingly out of nowhere, with three police officers bearing a formal letter summoning me to headquarters for questioning just seven and a half hours later, at 9am, and informing me that if I failed to show, I would be arrested.
I duly turned up at 9am with my husband, who is a lawyer, but he was not allowed in. I was told that the right to a lawyer comes into effect on 10 February, but – and here’s the surprising news because we had been led to believe otherwise – it’s not the right to a lawyer during interrogation, but the right to consult your lawyer one hour before interrogation.
I was subjected to three hours of questioning, and though I was reminded unnecessarily that I had the right not to speak, at the same time I was told that it would be best for me to answer certain questions, because it would avoid the need of having my home searched and my computers and those of ‘family members’ seized as ‘evidence’.
Not wishing to subject members of my family to such harassment, nor to relinquish my computers to the prying eyes of untrustworthy police officers with Labour loyalties who leak information to the Labour press and its fellow travellers, I answered those certain questions against my will, telling myself that back in the days of Anglu Farrugia it was a kettle boiling in the background and today it’s the threat of having your laptop lifted and pried through.
To get me to say what they wanted me to say, they brought up the fact that the site domain is registered in my son’s name, and that they had to “eliminate him from the inquiry”. I explained very carefully and in simple language that when web domains are registered, credit cards are used, and the domain name is registered under the holder of the credit card – in this particular case, my son, who at the time worked in IT and registered the domain.
I explained this at least three times and had it included in my statement, so that the double act of Herrera and Musumeci wouldn’t ‘mistakenly’ have him prosecuted, only to end up with a very large rocket under their backsides, placed there by his mother and detonated strategically.
The photographs of the magistrate’s birthday party appeared to be a particular sticking-point. It was as though I had broken into the magistrate’s and Musumeci’s Siggiewi love-nest, rifled through their drawers (please, no jokes – their integrity might be impugned) and stolen them.
I explained with a great deal of patience that they were uploaded on Facebook by the magistrate herself and members of her family, and that hundreds of people were able to view and download them, precisely because the magistrate and members of her family had uploaded them to be seen by hundreds.
The interrogating officers, who were otherwise very polite throughout – an attitude which, strange as it seems, makes me trust them less rather than more – finished taking my statement at 12.30pm. I didn’t sign it, and they wanted to know why. I told them that I only sign documents when I have a reason to do so (cheques, contracts) rather than on the basis of majtezwel. I had no reason to sign the statement.
After that, I was left to wait for an hour with no explanation and prevented from leaving because one of the interrogating officers hadn’t yet signed my statement and I wasn’t allowed to leave without it.
At 1.30pm, the interrogating officer reappeared, signed my statement and I was allowed to go. It turned out that leaving one of the officers’ signatures missing from the statement for that hour was a strategy to keep me there while they did something behind my back. Had he signed the statement, I could have picked it up and simply walked out, because I wasn’t under arrest. Then I found out what it was all about, because when I left, a representative of the company which hosts my blog site rang me to say that a few minutes earlier he had received a telephone call from police headquarters.
The officer at the other end of the line told him that they “had a person under arrest” and that this person would not be allowed to leave Police HQ until the web-host company gave the police details about who is responsible for my blog-site.
The company representative gave those details because he assumed that the person under arrest was me. This happened while I was in the next room, unaware of what was going on.
When the police got what they wanted from my web-host company (and I was still ignorant of it), I was allowed to leave. The police, however, had lied when they told him they “had a person under arrest”.
When I entered the building I was assured that I was not under arrest. In fact, I was given a large red card that said VISITOR. If there was another person arrested elsewhere in the building because of my blog, I was unaware of it – but I doubt it. It was one of those fictions which the police sometimes like to use to get you to say what you wouldn’t tell them otherwise.
Interestingly, it emerged only halfway through the interrogation that it was not only Magistrate Scerri Herrera who had requested my investigation, but also Robert Musumeci. I pointed out to the interrogating officer that I should have been informed of this at the outset, because it is a salient piece of information.
Next stop, Beijing. There’s a lot you can do with a pair of chopsticks, as the magistrate now knows after her mysterious trip to Singapore last week.
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Daphne, you and I both know how it feels to be accosted in the middle of the night by the goon squad (I had the pleasure of the CID), taken to Police HQ, interrogated for hours (without a lawyer present), by the Commissioner no less, and then put in a cell. Imprisoned for three weeks, tried and acquitted. That was many years ago. It seems times have not changed that much. Hang in, girl, you’re doing one hell of a job.
So now it is the turn of the police force to bring itself into disrepute.
“The interrogating officers, who were otherwise very polite throughout …”
They would be. You can be sure that they did more rehearsals for your interrogation than they do for their Republic Day parade.
Honestly while reading the above, it felt like reading fiction. Confiscating your computer eh?
Well, it’s not too nice to have one’s computer confiscated. I had it happen to me a couple of years ago and it took me a year to get it back.
La verita ti fara liberi
What I meant is that you have nothing to worry about because throughout your comments on this subject your views are correct and I am four square behind you.
Jesus, looks like we’re back to the 70s and early 80s. This is too serious to ignore and we expect the Home Affairs Minister to issue a statement condemning this vile action by the police. A full investigation is called for.
Daphne, I speak for all my friends and family when giving you our full support and solidarity.
We did not vote to have a police state, and you should never have been subjected to such an ordeal. Sixteen years was more than enough, and most of us were hoping that the authorities would protect us from these ‘hnizrijiet’.
Let’s see that creep Joseph Muscat give us some patronising lecture on free speech after this.
Back to the 70s and 80s, Philip? You really haven’t yet recognised the epoch you live in, haven’t you… the whole sorry lot of you.
Enlighten us, Kev.
James Tyrell commenting in The Times:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100205/local/magistrate-reports-columnist-to-police
@ James Tyrell :”Wouldn’t you agree that a magistrate by the very nature of their (sic) position must be seen as whiter than white?”
That, of course, being precisely the point at issue here. Comment on conduct unbecoming on the part of a public official does not constitute an ‘attack’ ; in a working democracy it is a right that all citizens and, more particularly the media, should actively exercise. Instead, what we are now seeing is an attempt to muzzle the media by the very authorities that are there to protect that right
The silence of journalists and of the Press Club in all this speaks volumes
James Tyrell is an ex-policeman. Maybe by glibly ignoring the principles of the case to defend the magistrate in question, he thinks he might get a piece of the action.
Just came in from an enjoyable evening to be spoilt by Daphne’s experience in the hands of some police officers who think that we are living in the 1980s and have Anglu Farrugia as the minister responsible for the police force.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici, or as I know you, Carm, please make sure that these disgusting things do not happen again in 2010. I have spent the best years of my life together with your father besides of course other people in the party so these atrocities do not happen again in our lifetime.
I do not believe that ministers should intervene in the normal course of justice, but this is going beyond the normal course and the person who is exposing these obscene affairs is being prosecuted and police sent to her house in the dead of the night. She rightly refused to go in the night but had to spend Saturday morning being interrogated.
I never, ever expected to read the above during the time when a PN government is in power and unless this is corrected and an apology is forthcoming, I shall be forced to do something that I have not done in the last 48 years, ever since I became a member of the PN. Poce parole al buon intenditore.
Hear, hear Ed.
I am enraged by all this. This is not what I expected to happen with the new law. Daphne’s lawyer should have been there, present. So what actually came into effect – or does so on 10 February – is a watered-down parody of the right to have legal representation while being interrogated. Is this the object of all the fuss Franco Debono made in parliament?
This ‘froga’ of a law, this mishmash of contradictions – and then we have Carm Mifsud Bonnici opposing it so vehemently that it was as though the police commissioner was talking and not the Minister of Justice?
Shame on us, members of the PN, for accepting this travesty. We went through such a lot prior to 1987, and I honestly feel betrayed by all our supposed paladins in parliaments present and past. Is this what you have come up with during the years in parliament? A stupid compromise between the realities of what used to happen and the wishes of a police force that was guilty so many times of ruining people’s lives during those times? Is this how you betray us?
No one should go through an ordeal at the depot again without this right to the presence of a lawyer. Unfortunately we have all the forces of political darkness against us if we tried to actually insist that this new law does not go far enough. If Franco is the man he says he is, now is the time to show it.
Oh, and while we are at it, how about seeing why the police think it expedient to send police officers to people’s homes at all hours, and how come no one questions this? If there was a question of a murder or robbery, I would understand the hour, but this? It smacks of abuse of power and coercion, and the fact that the minister is powerless to actually assert his good sense over the police force. I expected better of Carm Mifsud Bonnici. His heritage is greater than this, surely.
So we have someone who willingly exposed their lives for all the world to see on Facebook, and then when someone actually comments, we get all uptight and get the police to do our dirty work.
This is not on, my friends, not on at all. They threaten to confiscate anything you have, to search and pry, and no interrogation should start that way. Sorry Edgar, I expect the minister to assert himself, actually change that law and allow the lawyer to be present during the interrogation, not just consulting him an hour before, or else he should consign himself to the rubbish heap of the many wannabe politicians who have been found wanting.
Actually, they ALL have been found wanting in this. The only unlikely hero is Franco Debono, if this law was actually his gripe, for forcing people’s hands. But even he, with his experience, should know that this new law does not go anywhere far enough. And what about the disclosure clause? Where is that happening ?
What happened to Daphne is an eye-opener.
No one is safe for expressing his opinion in Malta anymore. No one. We rank with the worst, because on the face of it, all seems well, but beneath, the forces of darkness, and of control, know what they have to do to shut you up.
I’m getting very tired of the paucity of principle we have all over the political class in this island. Principles have given way to impossibly convoluted compromises. Parliament? It’s a joke. No one is to be trusted anymore, especially in the party I support, which is full of lawyers who should know better than to try and hide this from us.
Hear, hear, Mario.
All that we fought for throughout our youth is now simply evaporating before our very own eyes.
Ironically, twenty-six years down the line, it would have to be Daphne yet again to be interrogated by the police and used as an example to silence people, and to make them fear speaking their mind.
It is beginning to feel like we are back to Labour. I honestly hoped that those bad days were long gone. From what I see, not only are they still here with us, but they are probably worse, having been brewing – and ready to explode – all the time since the Nationalists have been in power, just at the mere suggestion that Labour will be back soon.
I had hoped for a better Malta for my children. It doesn’t look like there will be one.
Though I would not go to the extent of Edgar (I believe that the police state would be much worse under Anglu Farrugia), I also believe that Carm Mifsud Bonnici (and the commissioner) should look at this behaviour and take any action that is deemed fit. Knowing Carm, I believe that he has the courage to take such action.
On the presence of a lawyer – if what Daphne has reported is correct, then the police are partially wrong – it is the right to consult your lawyer, before interrogation of a maximum of 1 hour – and this with the proviso that it can also be delayed if deemed necessary, etc.
The law as it shall come in force is a farce. In fact it does not give the person the right to a lawyer during interrogation. The interesting part is that this law was passed without any objection in parliament – so basically with the blessing and approval of the opposition.
Interestingly, the fact that we shall have an incomplete and potentially flawed law was pointed out by the editorial of The Sunday Times on the 24th Jan 2010.
Daphne Caruana Galizia is not above the law. I hope you do get arrested and later convicted. You deserve it and it would be justice served.
And on what basis according to your learned opinion should Daphne be arrested AND convicted? Justice will be served only when we have a really clean justice system!
@ Denis Catania – And on what basis would that be? Please do amplify, for you give the impression that you are more in the know than most, despite being across the Atlantic.
Dennis Catania is not above the law, either. He too might find himself arrested and later convicted.
What is even worse for a ‘racialist’ like Denis is that the policeman who arrests him in NY might be black.
Denis Catania. Now there’s another oblivious Statist who plays ‘liberal’.
Denis Catania doesn’t play ‘liberal’. He plays the fool – and a damned good job he does of it too.
Can’t you understand why? Because Denis is Labour. That is what Labour is, or rather still is about.
Denis Catania isn’t ‘Labour’. That would be too simple. He’s a self-styled PN supporter who’s a fan of Dom Mintoff who lives in the US but supports Gzira FC, an immigrant himself who is against immigration, who claims and exercises freedom of speech to gloat over others being denied theirs.
I don’t think even the old style MLP was capable of such tahwid
In case readers would like to put a face to a name – http://www.facebook.com/deniscatania
Arrested and tried for what? For telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but facts? Is that the way Labour will govern once more? By using the police to intimidate critics? Yes, they’re going to get my number one vote, for the Opposition benches once more.
“La verita ti fara liberi”
Actually, it is “Arbeit macht frei” that comes to mind where this matter is concerned.
What you gonna do when they come for you ? bad girl, bad girl.
Hadn’t you better get back to those Easter peeps? I believe it’s that time of year again.
We ordered, received and sold 19 trailers of Easter peeps, this year. Now we go on another cruise. I should have saved a case to send to Daphne and friends in prison.
Well, congratulations, though I don’t see why anyone should believe anything you say given your fairly recent behaviour.
Would that cruise be in a fantasy hot air balloon? You certainly won’t need to pay for any fuel.
Maybe it’s a trip to Disneyland, not a cruise http://www.l-orizzont.com/news.asp?newsitemid=47607
Hey Dennis! Did you escape the mental institute again?
No. He’s allowed access to the internet once in a while.
Your comment sounds really stupid. Who do you think you’re talking to? A three-year-old girl li tibza mil Babaw?
Everyone should have freedom of speech. Daphne, keep it up, and we need more courageous persons (was going to say woman but there aren’t even men who have your guts) like you.
His comment is really stupid. But what would you expect from an immigrant who’s demonstrates in the US against immigration in Malta?
Nothing pisses off police worse than having to go through ‘procedures’ knowing very well that the exercise is a sheer waste of time since they know that they are barking up the wrong tree.
Consie’s pictures were on Facebook for everyone to see, not copyrighted, so anyone can reproduce them and as far as Daphne’s comments are concerned, she repeated public knowledge, adding a bit of colouring which she is quite capable of doing with her linguistic skills.
Therefore it seems that no law was broken but surely Consie and Musumeci are not amused. Tough. No libel, no slander – just what any journalist worth his/her salt would do in regard to public figures.
That’s right – they were there for all who had access to Facebook to see, meaning that they would have been seen by thousands, not by hundreds, Daphne.
Facebook has 350million+ members.
Will the arrest of Daphne Caruana Galizia be on TVM?
Will Denis Catania ever find his brain?
Here is a man who lives in the land of the free, and who exercises his right to freedom of expression whenever he likes, leaping in to gloat over the attempted repression of such freedom in the country he escaped from.
Watch it Denis – if a magistrate takes offence, you might find yourself sorely in want of a few Easter peeps yourself.
“Land of the free”? You must have been watching too much TV, La Redoute. It’s where Denis Catania gets his daily news from.
Where do *you* live, Kev?
And, no, I don’t mean where in your own mind.
Why? Was Manwel Cuschieri’s arrest for illicit phone calls shown on telly? Jaqaw ghandek xi faham miblul fiha din l-istorja Sur Catania?
@Pepe’ – For the benefit of those who have no idea what you may be on about, though I fail to see any connection whatsoever with Daphne:
http://www.maltarightnow.com/?module=news&at=L-allegat+ka%26%23380%3B+ta'+80+telefonata+anonima+minn+Manwel+Cuschieri&t=a&aid=28287&cid=39
Denis Catania: shut up fool! Is the freezing weather on the East Coast numbing your brain cells even more than usual?
Wop country, whether under PN or Labour.
Keep the faith Daphne…..at this rate soon it will be “ausweiss bitte!” and jackboots…
Daphne, If Mr. Musumeci and the magistrate felt maligned by what you wrote why they didn’t file a law suit against you for defaming their characters?
That would have made sense to me and would look more credible. Having the magistrate using her position to order the police to act like the Gestapo in 2010 looks very bad on her, the police force, and yes the PN government. Damage control by the minister of justice is a must.
An old Hollywood saying comes to mind: the louder the noise, the bigger the audience. As soon as the magistrate involved the police she elevated more public interest in her case. Now virtually all the local journals are writing about this duo.
Whether we like it or not, people in public office are expected to be ridiculed in the press. Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair to name a few went through this experience in the media, and none of them ordered the police force to act like the Gestapo.
[Daphne – Don’t forget the heir to the British throne and his desire to become his lover’s tampon, taken from a recorded telephone conversation and splashed all over the world news.]
The magistrate and her family made the mistake of posting her private pictures on the web. The only way the magistrate can win her case in the public opinion and gain her dignity is by comporting herself in public with dignity that is expected from a magistrate. She needs to understand her position.
Matt: The photos are the least of it. The real trouble to this pair is that their self-delusion has been shattered. In their view it’s far more effective to their cause to involve the police rather than file a civil suit. They probably imagine that such action conveys the true gravity of the ‘crime’ without realising, of course, that that gravity can be traced back to their own behaviour, individually and jointly. For if they truly had done nothing wrong, what shame is there in anyone knowing?
Brings to mind politicians like Nixon and Johnson who couldn’t stand being undermined by the media and took a personal interest in destroying the journalists’ careers. Some public figures have a very thin skin and shouldn’t be given public office. Be wary of the paranoid.
RESIGN MAGISTRATE
And Minister for Justice – kindly clarify matters, for the image of the government is seriously deteriorating, along with that of the police force.
Here comes a candle to light you to bed.
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.
(Chip chop, chip chop, the last man’s dead.)
The last lines from the singing game ‘Oranges and Lemons’ said to have its origin in child sacrifice, public executions and Henry Vlll’s gonorrhea afflicted marital charades.
It really sounds like we are back to the “old Labour” days. It is true that the police force and the government are two entirely separate entities, and that one should not have any influence over the other.
If, however – despite the fact that this is not a 1970s/1980s Labour government – the police intimidate private citizens, it could only be a sign of worse to come.
Democratic Malta my foot!
Only in Malta these things happen. Vera waqajna ghan-n**k.
That’s because you don’t read what’s happening elsewhere, Sur Mifsud.
How about a bit of condemnation for sorry police action, by a former member of the same force, Kev? You can’t blame this one on America.
What do you want me to condemn? The law that makes their actions legal? Condemnation should go to the many traitors currently empowering the police with greater investigative powers and despotic tools, with more laws to justify more action. Meanwhile you lot here whine over the lack of a lawyer that changes very little of the intrusive nature of policing.
Thing are happening in the US and the UK that are far more bewildering. Meanwhile, Europol is at our doorsteps and if we all go the American way, Mrs Caruana Galizia would have had armed Darth Vader-like SWATs blasting her front door, handcuffing every member of the family that makes an appearance…
How about the following, none of which, to my knowledge, are legal and which sound like a throwback to the 1980s:
. Attempted arrest at night – in all but name, of course.
. Detaining a person under false pretences.
. Not informing a detained person about who instigated an investigation.
. Lying to a private company to obtain information that could legitimately be withheld.
Kemm tidher tifel sew, La Redoute! Do you think any of what you listed is considered illegal in this day and age? There are a 1001 justifications to every protest you raise. They’re the experts in this field and the law serves them well. After all, their Western colleagues don’t just enforce the law, they are also allowed to dictate more powers, new laws and looser interpretations of the law for us to eventually import to our shores. The Orwellian war on terr’rsts and Goldsteins has helped a lot, of course… but that’s too esoteric for this ant-patch.
Kev: It’s a matter of who’s doing the considering. The question is: do you?
You’re all for condemning the US of A. How about a little more bravado concerning your old friends in (black and) blue here in this ant-patch for a change?
Or maybe you’re one of the ones who violated the principles you preach now where you wore their stripes?
Now, don’t tell us this is all too esoteric for you. You wouldn’t be posting your wisdom here if you thought it was a waste of time.
Correction: *when* you wore their stripes.
PS It’s hard to tell whether you really condemn the status quo or get a vicarious thrill out of it.
Ant-patch? Maybe that’s why you sound like you’ve ants in your pants. Mind the US of A doesn’t creep up behind you and bit you in the backside.
Kemm int injorant kev, issemmi Europol f’kaz bhal dan. U trid tiddeciedi min hu l-bogeyman: l-Ewropa jew l-Amerika. U kif inhu l-istock ta’ “limuncell t’Ghawdex” fi Brussels?
I never wore stripes, La Redoute. I think you need to read more to understand what is going on in the US and the EU. You are reliving a past at a time when the present is ushering in a future that is much worse than that past.
But if you need any consolation, just look at Baxxter. His comment indicates he has no clue of what I’m talking about. But I’ve learned to let weeping dogs cry.
So, tell us, Kev. Did the police act correctly or not? Don’t bang on about legality. You know better than I do that that is not the point. What would you have done in their place, given that your moral convictions do not wear a uniform?
And who’d you vote for here to prevent that future being ushered in? Come on, tell us. I can already hear the world’s liberatarians screaming blue murder.
By the way, “stripes” was a metaphorical reference.
Kev,
Malta police are now so bad that it’s almost as if you were back in uniform. You haven’t been hired as consultant, by any chance, have you?
Host your blog on a US server; they can’t touch it!
The U.S has internet police too. She will be charged in the U.S too. Daphne Caruana Galizia stole and or handled stolen property from the internet and used it for personal and commercial use. It’s a crime in the U.S too. Facebook pictures can be viewed by anyone, but it doesn’t give anyone the right to copy paste and distribute them on any other network but FACEBOOK.
[Daphne – Sorry, Denis. You’re wrong there.]
“The U.S has internet police too. She will be charged in the U.S too. ”
Yes yes Denis, there’s a good lad, hush now!
@Denis Catania
Privacy Policy/Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php
“Risks inherent in sharing information. Although we allow you to set privacy options that limit access to your information, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We cannot control the actions of other users with whom you share your information. We cannot guarantee that only authorized persons will view your information. We cannot ensure that information you share on Facebook will not become publicly available. We are not responsible for third party circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures on Facebook. You can reduce these risks by using common sense security practices such as choosing a strong password, using different passwords for different services, and using up to date antivirus software.”
Andrea: That’s too complicated for our Denis. He should stick to peeps and fantasy cruises.
And this Kevin was a police inspector?
Yes and he was thrown out of it because he was involved in a hit and run and then had the blessing of a corrupt magistrate who instead of sending him where he belongs, let him off scot free.
“When I entered the building I was assured that I was not under arrest…After that, I was left to wait for an hour with no explanation and prevented from leaving ..”
A person responding to a request to call at Police HQ, and who is confirmed as a VISITOR on entering the building is, by implication, free to leave at any time. Preventing that person from leaving is ‘holding a person against that person’s will’ – and that is a crime.
In this case the crime was aggravated as it was used in order to exert unlawful pressure upon a third party to divulge confidential data, and it was perpetrated by the police whose duty it is to prevent such crimes from taking place.
This is a very serious matter. Like Edgar Gatt, I am a PN supporter and have voted PN in every election. That these things are happening under a PN government is shameful. Never, never did it even cross my mind that we could come to this. We are not living in a police state and it seems they have grabbed the wrong end of the stick. If what Daphne published is correct then it’s the “wrong doers” who should be admonished and brought to book by the relevant authorities.
I have not commented about this whole affair as there seemed more then enough for the amusement of one and all. But there are so many things wrong here that I couldn’t resist.
We all know the joke that the police are flat-footed, but really, do they have to be so clumsy?
First they point out that the right to a lawyer only comes into effect on Feb 10, so they’ll be damned if they do the right thing. Then they show their cards as to how they want to circumnavigate the new rules by claiming that you can only see your lawyer before being interviewed, cocking a gleeful snook at human rights principles.
Then they try to play sad little mind-games, knowing full well they have no case, by trying to go after family members if they can’t get the intended victim.
And ultimately, and this amazes me the most, amazes the sheers bumptiousness of the Police Commissioner, the Minister of Justice and the whole damn government.
What were they thinking of? Let’s see: it’s a Saturday, the day before the day that most people stay home to read the papers and get on to the net. So how can we create an almighty PR disaster?
That the police commissioner has never been known for diplomacy and tact is a given. That the Minister of Justice comes across as an unctuous being who parades his uprightness like a rooster on the farm is not surprising. But surely between the two of them and advisers they could have had a damage control strategy that prevented them coming out looking like a bunch of Keystone Cops.
The ‘evidence’ the police were looking for was all there, published and in the public arena. What need was there to detain a citizen for three hours plus, asking inane questions? The ‘interrogation’ such as it was, seems more akin to bullying.
The fact that this happens under the noses of this administration is very telling indeed. They may claim sheepishly that the police are independent of the government, but ultimately it is the laws created and upheld by these same politicians that hands over this amount of power to the police. And frankly, I think they are happy that way.
Let us not kid ourselves: it’s not only Musumeci who is in bed with a magistrate. Opening this can of worms is not doing a lot of people any favours.
One last question: where is the free press, where is the glorious battle cry of The (London) Times ‘Publish and be Damned”!
I do not expect the papers to take Daphne’s side necessarily (although if they had any sense they would, and thank her for doing their work), but I expect them to open up the story and give us the full extent of the implications. At this point journalists worth their salt should be doing what they should always do: follow the money.
“Then they show their cards as to how they want to circumnavigate the new rules by claiming that you can only see your lawyer before being interviewed,”
Unfortunately they are right – the law just gives you the right to consult a lawyer for a max of one hour before interrogation. In addition, it seems that if you utilise such a useless right and then shut up during the interrogation, this can be used against you.
The other problem is that this law was passed without any objections from the opposition.
My God – utterly disgusting. They had no grounds to arrest her (as I suspected) and were forced into putting psychological pressure. This is the kind of servile behaviour we witnessed in the 1980s. It’s the kind that hits at the core of the rule of law. To think that a person who is supposed to be upholding the law on the part of the judiciary is using the executive powers to cover up her “dealings” with a would-be member of the legislature. Now, how’s that for balance of powers, Maltese style?
L.G.: That much should be obvious, don’t you think? Yet, even today, at least one columnist thinks that this was a matter of revenge and that she “also believe(s) in bringing to public attention all wrongdoing, not only that which suits my agenda.”
She could, of course, have released the information herself, but didn’t.
Daphne do you still think so highly of Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici after this horrendous experience. Don’t you think our Home Affairs minister should resign if he cannot even control our inept police force?
[Daphne – Yes, of course I still think highly of him. This situation is a major problem for him, and I don’t mean my interrogation, either.]
I just don’t understand why you keep defending our Justice Minister. Il-huta min rasha tinten. If this was any other civilised EU country the Minister reposnsible for a bullying police force would be long gone. To think how may of us fought for our rights in the 80s under the PN flag, only to have the current government betray us in this matter. First they arrest a university student, Mark Camilleri, now they arrest (yes arrest is the correct term) a columnist. Wake up and smell the coffee, Gonzi: your integrity is being threatened by your own colleagues in government. It’s not just an election that you’re going to lose but your name will go down in history for these atrocities during your administration.
I think that while at it, the government should also re-shuffle the police force, top down. Certain important posts should not be occupied by the same persons for years on end.
The PN “freedom fighters” of the 70s and 80s were not fighting for our rights, as you say, but for the power they had lost together with the Old Establishment that Mintoff nearly destroyed. Carm Mifsud Bonnici will not go out of his way to safeguard any rights, less so today, when despotism and illusion have engulfed the whole West. He might, however, play some hard-looking softball to keep up appearances and appease the Daphnes of this ant-hill.
[Daphne – That was a really nice photograph of your wife in a mask with Robert Musumeci at the New Year’s Eve ball publicly promoted by Magistrate Herrera, Kevin. Were you there as well, and what sort of mask were you wearing?]
Maybe it was the mask of a libertarian.
Or maybe he was disguised as Neptune, but wore a cactus by mistake.
I like this Kev’s ability to entertain.
Now that despotism and illusion have engulfed the whole West, he plans not to move to his much-admired and not-in-the-West Moscow or any of its protectorates, past or present.
Oops that’s a banana skin. No, make that a Brussels sprout.
Some (former) policemen have it too good.
Daphne, I wonder whether you would have been so complacent with a Labour minister in the 80s. Even they were dealing with situations that had “gone out of hand”. It’s a Minister’s job NOT to let things get “out of hand” in his department.
I will not go into the merits whether or not the police should or should not should have asked Daphne to go to the Polce Headquarters, given that they had to deal with a report from the magistrate.
However, we are not living in a defunct Soviet state where people are intimidated, or should I say threatened, by knocking at their doors late at night. Whether or not you agree with Daphne – and I, more often than not, do not agree with her – one must bear in mind that she is a mother and a wife.
Asking her unexpectedly to go late at night is not on. It is outrageous. Had she committed murder or some other heinous crime, then that would have been another matter, and I would not have raised any objection.
Daphne, let us now call a spade a spade. The ball is now without doubt in the hands of the Minister responsible for the police force. How he now acts or reacts will impinge on his credibility, and in turn on the government and the prime minister. We must now know, and immediately, if this government has been worth the trust given to it at the last general election. Many are starting to have serious doubts.
Lying bunch of p***ks – would that piece of evidence obtained by them be admissable before the court then, assuming of course il-Kons is not presiding?
Wake up, Gonzi.
Daphne
Were you free to leave HQ at any point during the course of the interrogation? If you weren’t, then you should consider yourself to have been under arrest, I’m afraid.
Whatever the nice policemen might have told you, together with any “visitor” badges you were made to wear, is purely and simply irrelevant.
My only comment is to Carm Mifsud Bonnici to explain the action of the police when they could have called Daphne on Monday. As a Maltese and one of your constituents, Carm, I demand such an explanation.
What do the police want to make a search for at Daphne’s? Searches are only made when there is a justified reason for them. In this case Daphne is not waiving reponsibility in writing the articles in question. Do the goons have an inkling how to carry out an investigation?
Isn’t this ‘investigation’ all a waste of time and resources? It could all have been avoided by the simple expedient of purchasing an aspirin.
Didn’t the nuns at Sacred Heart once recommend holding an aspirin between one’s knees as a means of preventing anything else getting in between?
There would then have been no need to retrieve one’s reputation and integrity from the rubbish heap after having tossed them there in the first place.
Dear Dr.Mifsud Bonnici,
Since I am sure you are reading this, as a citizen who has fought alongside your party to rid the police force of elements that severely tarnished its reputation, I respectfully demand that you immediately institute an inquiry into how this investigation was carried out.
It is, mildly put, disgraceful. The judiciary has already suffered a tremendous image blow – do not permit this to spill onto the police force.
Daphne, please correct typing where necessary. I was so shocked I had to post from my Blackberry.
So did I, and at a great cost. Therefore, I expect the Prime Minister to actively monitor any follow up. If not……………….
No news value to The Sunday Times of Malta. Why?
Maybe because they think the whole palaver is ridiculous.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100207/quotes-of-the-week/quotes-of-the-week
From The Sunday Times quotes of the week: “Protect my integrity…”
Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera in her court decree calling on the police to investigate allegations levelled against her by columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Eh excuse me D, would you mind terribly not ”alleging” any more accusations about Consie and Robbie? According to that media guru Saviour Balzan, Mr Double Standards himself is perplexed as to why their private lives have suddenly become the focus of your writings, when according to him anyone ‘with an ear to the ground’ knew about their affair. Never mind the fact that the Honorable Consuelo Scerri Herrera is a member of the judiciary, Architect Robert Musumeci is an aspiring politician on the government’s side, and that anyway the pictures you published were on Facebook for all to see. God, the man is so shallow.
What he could not accept and indeed envied is that a columnist with ‘bocci’ dares print the truth for a change.
What he should be doing is defending the right of free speech, but then we all know that for him it’s two weights and two measures.
Bon courage, Daphne. All right-thinking people are behind you.
His ear couldn’t have been too close to the ground or he’d have heard all the other stories too – the ones that *didn’t* involve Musumeci.
Not much of an intrepid investigator, is he?
Or perhaps he doesn’t share the view of one of his columnists-come-lately and prefers to dish the dirt only when it suits his agenda, even when it’s in conflict with his editorial obligations.
‘Honourable Consuelo etc? You made me choke on my coffee, Tony Pace.
Kieku Manwel Cuschieri gets this treatment also, then perhaps we could applaud them on being consistent, but this police force is anything but. These stories cross party lines and that makes Daphne a ‘public enemy’. Little do they know that she’s got a following that exceeds that of the leading politicians.
And has the Press Association condemned the police action yet? Or they tongue-tied too?
X’pajjiz tac-chickens!
Victor, I am one of the many! Whichever way you look at it, this country is going to the dogs and the people in the running of it are either clueless or following their own agenda. I am no longer proud to say I voted PN at the last election. I can’t for the life of me even think why I did, the expectations then were already at an all time low.
Good luck Daphne, I do not usually involve myself on such issues, but this time round I feel moved to do so. Some democratic country indeed.
The police are an utter sham – and worse still considering that they should defend citizens and uphold truth.
If this is the way they go about their “duties” with Daphne (well knowing that they will be in the spotlight) – one can only wonder what they get up to with Joe Citizen.
In fact some recent cases that made it to the newspapers should be an eye-opener. If John Rizzo is incapable of cleaning up this mess, then Carm Mifsud Bonnici should wake up from his snooze.
If (as expected) Rizzo and Mifsud Bonnici live to their fame and lie low, then it is up to Gonzi to kick both of them out.
If Gonzi fails to rectify matters, then surely the government has gone to the dogs – and people will be right to vote for change whatever it may be.
So glad to see the crypto-racist Catania giving us the benefit of his wisdom from the land of the free. What a moron.
Catania didn’t even realise that the whole article was about what the ‘bad gir’l did when they came for her. He probably thought that he was being clever….miskin.
I got the distinct feeling that the situation is fast becoming a time-bomb ready to explode – and when it does the force of the explosion is going to be heard loud and clear. I admire you Daphne for your sheer guts and integrity. Guess our politicians blue, red and green should read your articles to learn what integrity and truth are all about. Well done.
I too recall those horrendous days of police action/inaction and unfortunately it has been revived under our party of democratic principles. I recently had a whole apartment vandalised by a tenant whose lease expired. It was reported to the police and a report was duly filed and the report reads as “wilful damage”.
However after ‘interviewing the tenant’ the Sliema police inspector thought otherwise. Her response was that it is not a criminal case leaving live electric wires hanging from the ceiling and causing havoc and stripping an apartment to the tune of thousands of euros. The tenant happened to be the a CEO of a government authority . It seems that justice is only done for those well connected.
Mario Debono: “Oh, and while we are at it, how about seeing why the police think it expedient to send police officers to people’s homes at all hours..”
Police regulations specifically PROHIBIT the presentation of summons during night hours as also, except in very serious or urgent cases, the entering of the home and the arrest of persons at that time.
The hounding methods here resorted to by the police to harass a person they had set their sights on must also be looked into by the authorities concerned.
Could this keeness in pursuit of their quarry have been fuelled at least in part by members of the police force who had cosied up to something that they shouldn’t?
As to “… how come no one questions this?”
Looks like developments have so far only just skimmed the surface of a very deep and full slime pit.
Perhaps the police should issue a statement denying any undue pressure by the magistrate to act outside their powers. It’s only fair, after all. Isn’t this case about clearing her name, and hasn’t she requested their assistance in protecting her integrity?
They can do that by taking the flak themselves for a very obvious abuse of power.
If you weren’t being arrested and the police just wanted to question you, couldn’t they have offered to do the questioning in your sitting room? Why does a person have to go to Police Headquarters to answer questions?
I am outraged. We have been sold a fake. Lawyer representation my foot. I cannot believe that a PN government and a Labour opposition have signed up to a piece of crap paper that entitles you to consult a lawyer one hour before a police interview. And who decides what time the hour starts from?
Franco Debono made an issue about this law which lay dormant for a number of years. Quite rightly he drew attention to it but I do not recall him pointing out a major flaw – no lawyer present – so I suspect he was not aware of it either.
I too remember the police state in our country, the helmets, truncheons and police dogs, the failure to arrest Labour thugs and the arrest and intimidation of PN supporters.
Are we witnessing the return of those vicious days? PN wake up and do something now. If Daphne continues to be treated as if we were back in the 1970s and 1980s you will only lose more votes.
It seems that we have “been sold a fake” in many more ways than one. Faith in the pollice force comes to mind, as does freedom of speech – and those are but a few.
That having been said, I would still vote to keep Labour out for as long as I live.
Well it does serve you right a little bit for slagging Franco off.
This is what happens when fanatics like you do not accept criticism. The government of ‘the land of the free’ has not even paid its dues to Anthony Mifsud 30 years later, so what did you expect?
CharlesG: “it does serve you right”
Your tone suggests you approve of the status quo. So what exactly are you on about?
What am I on about? Absolutely nothing. I just cannot take Daphne seriously enough because she presents herself as someone who is insensitive to the plights of others until she has a taste. A taste because I’m sure that the interrogating officers were extra polite (as Daphne herself said) knowing only too well who they’re dealing with.
So yes this is what it’s all about: Franco Debono was right to take such a hard stand on this government on an issue such as this.
[Daphne – I am not at all insensitive to the plight of others. In fact, while undergoing police interrogation, I was acutely sensitive to just how dangerous that situation would be for younger people or those who are unable to think quickly, who might end up incriminating themselves even when they had done nothing wrong. When the interrogating officer came at the same subject from 20 different angles and with as many questions, trying to get me to say one particular thing, I told him very firmly that this is precisely why it is outrageous that people are questioned without legal assistance, that I could see exactly what he was doing.]
Hands up all those who believed Franco Debono’s likely story. Thought so.
As to the principles held close to the heart of our Minister of Justice, let’s say they are probably slightly to the right of Attila the Hun (with apologies to Tim Rice) and with an added dash of whip-lashing self-tormenting Pope John Paull II’s dogma.
The news from Nadur seems to point that way anyway. God. I Love this c(o)untry!
And speaking of Popes what’s this I’m reading?
“(The movement of progressives and moderates)… aspires to a state which is close to, but not part of, the Church and one that reflects individual choices and also helps the family.”
– Dr Muscat on a future relationship between a Labour government and the Catholic Church
Did I miss something here? Have all politicians suddenly becomes aspiring saints? WTF? A state which is close to the church? Why do the words ‘frying pan’, and ‘fire’ come to mind?
I think we need an Antonio Di Pietro to open a Mani Pulite team here in Malta.
I think Di Pietro had his own agenda.
Like I say, there is actually a parallel universe out there and Daphne’s “crime” was to be the alien from another planet who turned up one day and suddenly pointed out to the inhabitants that they’re not alone.
The real struggle going on is: do we allow people like Consie/Musumeci to do as they please? Considering the allies they have, it will be a bigger task than Frodo’s – mark my words.
If he isn’t deported as soon as he lands as in the old days, that is.
I read this post this morning and for the life of me I couldn’t react with shock! How can it be that these things still happen in Malta in 2010? Hauling someone like Daphne for interrogation just for pointing out the obvious?
[Daphne – If they do that to me, imagine what they do to others. That’s the point.]
Or rather for having the sheer guts to stand up to those who think that they can get away with anything and not stand up to the scrutiny of the people who they serve? I never had any respect for the likes of Consuelo and Robert but this takes the biscuit.
Daphne, we are in your corner for you have helped us to be discerning…biex ma nibilghux kollox bil-Malti!
@ The Honorable Consuelo Herrera.
Like it or not Consie, even some of your own friends started calling the whole thing Consiegate.
I am the eternal optimist and I think justice will finally prevail. And we know who to thank, don’t we ?
“ConsieGATE”? Please!
More like ConsieGARAGE !
Was the ‘interview’ in English or Maltese? Can you insist on one or the other?
[Daphne – My Maltese is fluent. It’s certainly much better than the interrogating officers’ English. I had to spell ‘untenable’ for its inclusion in the statement, when I couldn’t find the Maltese equivalent and neither interrogation officer knew what I meant.]
I had no doubts about your fluency in Maltese, I was just curious as to whether you have the right to insist that it’s in English, or at least insist on speaking in English.
I was just imagining how much fun, or perhaps painful, it would be to insist the officers speak in English.
Ghaliex qed tibza’ ssemmi min kienu l-interrogating officers?
[Daphne – Because it’s not relevant, Kevin.]
Kevin, ma’ tahsibx li mhux affarina? Il-mistoqsija tieghek hija ‘loaded’ bil-kelma ‘tibza’. Il-kurzita tieghek thassibni, ghalxiex trid tkun taf? Biex forsi tara kiltx il-kirxa maghhom, u forsi jghidulek id-dettalji kollha?
I was interrogated in English by the Police Commissioner (Grech) and the Assistant Police Commissioner–from 01:00 to 03:30 at Floriana HQ. Then thrown in a cell. Grech’s English was quite good.
Daphne, We have different beliefs, but I admire you. It is only the few who have the courage to do what you did. You set foot on grounds that others even fear to talk about. I wish you good luck and as an ex-police officer I advise you to beware friendly investigating officers to whom my ex-colleagues opened their hearts in difficult moments and ended in the streets a few days after. That’s the kind of officers you dealt with, Daphne.
Thank goodness you know your rights and are not easily intimidated.
Search your home and computers? As far as I know, the police cannot do that unless with a court order – and I am sure Herrera cannot issue such orders in a case she is involved in.
I don’t believe any other magistrate or judge would have or will consent to such police request in the circumstances.
[Daphne – I know of many cases in which computers were taken without a court order. It’s routine.]
Then we live in a police state … how misguided I was!
Government is waiting for DNA equipment to be delivered before ensuring that fundamental human rights are observed.
The ECHR has recently held that confessions by criminals or suspects without access to legal representation are illegal. So any confession obtained without legal representation IS ILLEGAL whatever the excuse.
http://scottishlaw.blogspot.com/2009/05/european-court-of-human-rights-ruling.html
You don’t need my support. But you have it nonetheless.
Haven’t commented for eons. But have been mulling things over for quite a while now.
Humble pie time:
You were right and I was wrong (in some things anyway).
Chin up, and give your mastiff a biscuit.
@ Kev.
“The PN “freedom fighters” of the 70s and 80s were not fighting for our rights, as you say, but for the power they had lost together with the Old Establishment that Mintoff nearly destroyed.”
Bugger off, Kev. Damn right we were fighting for our rights and not only our rights but yours too, you stupid twat. What you’re doing was illegal and called ‘foreign interference’ by the PL/MLP back then. You should kiss the ground people like me – a one-time PN ‘freedom fighter’ – walk on and thank whichever god you believe in every day that we succeeded.
then how come we don’t have something like the ‘Miranda rights’ here?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_warning
Let’s see how the government will behave now that we’re back to a creaking economy. Those used to easy milk and honey will start panicking.
Tim, Kevin kultant jah*a barra l-vaz, bhallikieku mhux il-pulizija kienu id-difensuri tal-Partit Laburista minflok tac-cittadin fi zmien il-Labour.
Min jghid li qedin bhal zmien il-Labour ma’ jafx x’hinu jghid. Allahares nergghu lura ghal dak iz-zmien, imma mid-dehra ‘old habits die hard’ fil-korp tal-pulizija. L-ghada (drawwa) li titrabba fina il-kifen (tebut) biss inehhijielna.
Hemm x’tikkoregi u irid isir il-pass ta’ kuragg biex ma’ jithallewx mostri jghollu rashom. Dak xoghol il-politiku. Jiddispjacini nghid li min ma’ jemminx f’interrogazzjoni bla theddid u minghajr assistenza ta’ xi hadd li ghandek fiducja fih, m’ghandux postu la fil-korp u l-anqas fil-gvern.
I find myself at odds with you every now and again Daphne, but on this one I am with you full square.
I have my own experience of being interrogated by the police force on something I had absolutely nothing to do with… so much so that when they caught the real culprit no one ever bothered to call me to say ‘listen young man, you’re off the hook’.
I had to read it from The Times one Saturday night.
In the meantime they harassed me for a full year. Obviously, Der Kommissar and his sidekick Herr Flick who has since been promoted found nothing on me.
And this wasn’t the 80s. This was 2000.
My children grew up under the tyranny of the Labour government and suffered. We got rid of those horrible people, or at least I thought we did. We stood by the PN and fought for liberty and won. I am going to be a grandmother for the first time so, PLEASE PLEASE let my grandchild be free. Clean up our courts, police force and any person in politics, and let Malta have fresh air once more.
Whilst researching a bit I came accross a good study by Prof Taru Sponken of the University of Maastricht. This study comprised the analysis of data gathered through a questionnaire sent to the ministries of justice and home affairs in the member states, delivered in 2009 – and guess what? Malta, represented by the director for EU affairs in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Dr Josette Zerafa, and this is public knowledge that can be collected from this study, was the only country that did not return the questionnaire.
I was surprised that within the EU, this situation is not unique to Malta. In fact it seems that in Belgium, France, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands there is no access to legal advice during interrogation. This study is freely available through the Univesity of Maastricht website.
It might be pertinent to note that that Ireland, supported by Britain, Malta (and this is a shame), Cyprus, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, has been waging a long-standing campaign against the framework decision on procedural safeguards in criminal proceedings, where the right to consult a lawyer (but not specifically for the lawyer to be present during interrogation) is being proposed for implementation into EU law.
I think that we should start a campaign through our MEPs and members of parliament, that we need to have such a EU legislation in place. This would ensure that we shall have our rights safeguarded to the fullest.
Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici cannot intervene directly in a specific case (and we wouldn’t want him to) but he is still politically responsible for ‘Home Affairs’ and all those who object to the way the police are behaving should write and voice their concerns. Even a brief note is better than nothing.
[email protected]
Qed ninnota li intom kollha Nazzjonalisti li qeghdin tghidu li dawn l-affarijiet huma ta’ zmien Mintoff; tat-tmeninijiet; ta’ zmien il-Labour u x’naf jien. Li hu cert hu li dawn qed jigru taht in-Nazzjonalisti. Mela ta’ hmar li jien, jien nirraguna li jekk jitla l-Labour u dawn l-affarijiet jibqghu isiru, ghandna nibdew nghidu, “Xgharukaza dawn l-affarijiet li kienu jsiru taht in-Nazzjonalisti”.
Issa kelma lil DCG. Kulhadd qieghed jifrahlek fuq kemm ghandek ‘guts’. Tajjeb ferm. Ghax ma titlobhomx jaghmlu bhalek halli int ikollok akter sahha fil-krucjata tieghek. Niftakar l-istorja tal-grieden li ddecidew li jdendlu golgol m’ghonq il-qattus; kulhadd qabel, imma hadd ma ried ikun hu.
Haga ohra; jien kultant naqra l-artiki tieghek u ghalkemm mhux dejjem naqbel maghhom, jogghbuni. Bhal m’ghidlek ma naqrahomx dejjem u ghalhekk jekk forsi mhux diga ktibt, nixtieqek tikteb fuq il-giddibin kollha li ma jixraqhilhomx jokkupaw pozizzjoni publika.
Joe Caruana: “Dawn l-affarijiet” kienu kollha instigati minn persuna li hija maghrufa bhala Laburista u mhux mill-gvern.
Joe Caruana
Kif għidt jien band’oħra, veru għandna gvern Nazzjonalista imma dawn l-affarijiet qed isiru minn Laburisti, biex jgħattu l-ħmieġ u jipproteġu l-interessi ta’ Laburisti magħrufa. Biex tara kemm huma moderati u progressivi.
Din hija differenza kbira minn dak li kien jiġri fi żmien Mintoff. Ara tistax issemmili xi ġurnalist jew kittieb li marru għalih bil-lejl għax kiteb xi ħaġa li ma daqqietx lil xi ministru. Dawn kienu affarijiet ta’ kulljum taħt ir-reġim Laburista.
Il-hazin hu dejjem hazin, jaghmlu min jaghmlu. Issa sta ghal min ikun qed imexxi li ma jhallix il-hazin isir. Min ihalli dawn l-affarijiet inqisu bhala komplici.
joe caruana
Tiegħek hi mentalita tipika laburista li tippretendi li l-gvern jindaħal direttament. X’tgħid int l-ewwel wieħed kieku l-ministru jaqbad l-ispettur (jew fizzjal ieħor) li pprova jintimida lil Daphne u jagħtih transfer għal Kemmuna?
Kieku x’tgħid jekk tisma li l-ministru sejjaħ il-kummissarju u ordnalu jinvestiga l-maġistrata u mbagħad sejjaħ lil-Prim Imħallef u ordnalu li l-maġistrata ma tingħata ebda kawża u ma titħalla tagħmel xejn fil-qorti?
Dawn affarijiet li bħalhom ġraw fl-imgħoddi u li l-amministrazzjoni tal-PN, bid-difetti kollha tagħha, qatt ma tasal li tagħmel.
Ħa nerġa nsaqsik issemmili ġurnalist jew xandar wieħed li qatt ġie arrestat għax dak li kiteb jew qal ma għoġobx lil xi ministru. Għoxrin sena ta’ gvern u lanqas każ wieħed. Dawk il-qlajjiet kollha fuq ministri – biżżejjed insemmu l-Michael Frendo, John Dalli (issa jfaħħruh), Louis Galea u tant oħrajn u kieku qatt marru l-pulizija biex tagħlqilhom ħalqhom.
Issa għandna l-maġistrata Laburista li, wara li xebgħet titkessaħ mal-istess pulizija tridhom jipproteġulha l-unur u l-integrita b’dawn il-metodi faxxisti.
Maybe some of you will find this blog article on the right to legal representation posted on the Times of Malta, interesting:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080511/opinion/editorial
@ Antoine Vella. Kif qed tghid inti ghandna gvern li mhux lest jindahal fejn l-affarijiet mhux isiru sew u hemm ingustizzji. Mela kif diga ghidlek dan huwa komplici. U nirringrazzjak li fakkartni li jrid ikollok mentalita tipika laburista biex tindahal fejn l-affarijiet ikunu sejrin hazin.
Haga ohra hija t-transfer vendikattivi u arresti ghalxejn; m’inhix se nelabora imma doqthom it-tnejn. Int fl-istess nifs qed tghid li l-kummissarju mhux sewwa li gie mgieghel jirrezenja, ghax Kemmuna ma tistax tibghatu imma jirrezenja iva. Li kieku int kont avukat zgur ma nqabbdekx tiddefendini ghax qed titfixkel fi kliemek stess.
Case closed
A sorry state of affairs indeed. Not that you have anything to hide, but in order to keep anyone from accessing what is inside your computer (as in through confiscating OR stealing it), I suggest you (a) use TrueCrypt (or some similar product) to encrypt all the contents of your hard drive and (b) use an offline site (based overseas) to store any particular material that is critical or that you might need to have in hand at a moment’s notice. It is true that any encryption can be broken, but with a decent product and a well chosen key that can take months or even years. Good luck in exposing the rot. I just want to add that, as a PN voter, I have grown sick and tired of seeing corruption spread its tentacles and will seriously consider my options when it comes to election time. If the PM is reading this, I hope he takes it as a wake up call.