Joan Bland and Anne McKenna get preferential treatment and claim discrimination instead
Joan/Jana/Yana went to the European Court of Human Rights because wild cats have invaded her daddy's garden
Who else in Malta gets a sum worth more than their property, while getting to keep their property, for having something ugly and noisy built next to it?
And who else finds the state ready and tripping over itself in its haste to pay that ‘compensation’, to the extent that it forks out a very large sum before the compensation figure has actually been established?
But not content with this special treatment, Dom’s daughters Joan/Jana/Yana and Anne took their case for ‘discrimination’ to the European Court of Human Rights – oh, the irony, the irony, it makes me sob – and demanded more money still. Their garden, they said, had been ‘invaded by wild cats’, their daddy couldn’t receive letters from his bank (tsk tsk, terrible), and souvenir-hunters had broken into ‘Smellimara’ and taken furniture and other things.
What furniture and other things?
People who went there for one of his horrible lunches or meetings reported just what you’d expect from Malta’s most notorious Ebenezer Scrooge: dirt, mess, junk, old BIM chrome rejects, rexine, Formica and a spiritiera, with mismatched old Pyrex glasses.
These bums are just incredible.
And such brass neck. Dom Mintoff stamps all over human rights and civil liberties for 16 interminable years, leaves us without a Constitutional Court so that we cannot even fight back (so denying us access to the ECHR), steals, bullies, destroys people’s lives, encourages the growth of extreme corruption with robber barons in the cabinet of government, deliberately builds a culture of fear and oppression to keep people in subjection, and then he and his daughters, when normality has been restored, trail through the Constitutional Court (now that we have one), reach the European Court of Human Rights, and whine that their garden has been invaded by wild cats and they want even more money than the million euros they have been given already for that piece of crumbling junk at Delimara – which they got to keep as well.
Something tells me that one of the worst and stupidest decisions that Joseph Muscat has made is to pull these two on board, one of them as a ‘star candidate’ and the other to write letters to The Times telling us to vote for Muscat.
Kif jghid il-Malti, bla zejt f’wicchom.
Malta Today, 11 May 2008
MINTOFF’S CLAIM REJECTED IN LAST EPISODE OF DELIMARA SOAP OPERA
Charlot Zahra
The legal soap-opera about the 92-year-old former Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff’s compensation claims for the construction of the power station five metres away from his residence at Delimara, which had been ongoing since 1994, finally came to an end when the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) dismissed his claims as “manifestly unfounded.”
The 13-page decision on the admissibility of Dominic Mintoff’s case was delivered by the seven-judge Fourth Section of the ECHR presided by Sir Nicolas Bratza on 26 June 2007.
Reconstructing the case, the ECHR said that in 1987 the Nationalist Government ordered the construction of a new power station.
“Consequently, it selected and legally expropriated a site in Delimara, approximately 5 metres from the applicants’ property. “At the relevant time, the first applicant objected to the proposed power station on the ground that it would pollute his property and render it unusable.”
“Unsuccessfully, he submitted to the authorities proposals for a number of alternative locations and suggestions as to how the power station could be constructed in order to minimise the damage to his property,” the ECHR explained.
In 1992/1993 the power station began operating. “Due to the resulting noise and pollution the applicants had to leave their residence and move to their other house in Tarxien.
“The abandonment of the property meant that it became subject to a number of break-ins during which movables and furniture were stolen,” the ECHR said.
When presenting their case in the ECHR on 23 January 2007, Dom Mintoff and his two daughters, Anna Mckenna and Jana Mintoff Bland, who lives in the US State of Texas, claimed that “both their houses remain uninhabitable.
“Moreover, according to their communication, dated 9 April 2007, the first applicant (Dom Mintoff) has ongoing problems with his telephone line and does not receive regular post.”
Dom Mintoff claimed that “as a result, his Telecare telephone service – which he alleges is being tampered with – his correspondence with banks and his receipt of payments due and timely court notifications are adversely affected”.
Lastly, the Mintoffs claimed “that the garden of the Tarxien property has been invaded by wild cats and that the local council has not taken any steps to resolve this problem”.
Invoking Article 13 of the Convention, taken in conjunction with Article 1 of Protocol No.1, the applicants alleged that the violation of their right to the peaceful enjoyment of their property found in their case was not redressed in an effective manner, as the Constitutional Court had awarded only EUR 864,000 (Lm 360,000) by way of just satisfaction.
They further argued that the domestic courts had discriminated against them on political grounds, contrary to Article 14 of the Convention, in so far as this award was much lower than that awarded in a similar case.
With respect to the applicants’ complaint under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the ECHR, the Court observed “that the entire value of the property was evidently covered in the award made to the applicants and was exceeded by approximately EUR 336,000 (approximately Lm 140,000), which would appear from the Constitutional Court’s judgment to have included, among other things, just satisfaction for the inconvenience caused to the applicants since 1992 and an increase in value due to the fact that the first applicant had rendered the property historical in using it in the exercise of his duties”.
Moreover, the Court noted that the first applicant had already been paid EUR 511,080 (Lm 212,950), that is, more than half of the total compensation, before the actual amount had been established. “The amounts paid could also have accrued interest as from 1998, the date when the first payment had been made.
“The Court is of the view that this must have mitigated the effects of the delay in making the final payment (…) which, moreover, as found by the Constitutional Court was partly due to the applicants’ irrelevant submissions,” the ECHR said in its decision.
Apart from this, the Court noted that part of the delay had also been due to the negotiation procedures, which, “though ultimately not successful had not been futile and that the time element had not been unreasonable”.
“Furthermore, it had to be kept in mind that even though it was unfit for habitation and its value had diminished immensely, the property remained in the applicants’ possession,” the Court observed.
As to the damage caused to movables kept in the property and other damage suffered, the Court noted “that it was open to the applicants to bring an action in tort against the relevant parties”.
In so far as the applicant expected the sum to include the damage to the property in Tarxien, the Court noted that “these were the subject of another set of concurrent proceedings.
“It further considers that the conditions created in the Tarxien property were not related to the de facto expropriation of the Delimara residence.
“The first applicant’s decision not to pay the relevant bills, which resulted in further damage to his current residence, could have no bearing on the compensation awarded by the Constitutional Court.
“Moreover, in so far as the Tarxien property could be the subject of a separate complaint, the Court reiterates that Article 35 Subarticle 1 provides that the six-month period runs from the final decision in the process of exhaustion (….) which in relation to the Tarxien property was delivered on 20 June 2006 and therefore more than six months before the lodging of this application with the Court.”
“No other evidence has been provided in respect of any new proceedings which might have been undertaken in this connection. It follows that this complaint would be inadmissible for non-compliance with the six-month rule set out in Article 35 Subarticle 1 of the Convention, and would be rejected pursuant to Article 35 Subarticle 4.”
“Having regard to all the foregoing factors, the Court concludes that the compensation awarded to the applicants did not upset the fair balance between the opposing interests as they did not have to bear a disproportionate or excessive burden.”
“It follows that this part of the application is manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 Subarticle 3 of the Convention,” the ECHR ruled.
The ECHR also dismissed the Mintoffs’ claim of political discrimination under Article 14 of the Convention as “manifestly ill-founded”.
“The applicants have failed to substantiate their submission that any treatment they have been subjected to was influenced in any way by the fact that the first applicant was a former Prime Minister.”
“The Court therefore concludes that the applicants have failed to substantiate their allegation that they were discriminated against,” the ECHR said in its decision.
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The Mintoffs are discovering to their cost that it is only in Mintoff’s “golden!” years would Dom be able to suspend the operation of courts of law and to shuffle judges according to the Mintoff needs.
The Mintoffs must accept the fact that the European Court of Human Rights is completely outside outside their manipulative control and that the sacking of the Law Courts in Valletta cannot be extended to ransack the ECHR and to intimidate its judges.
Sic transit gloria Mintoff!
‘An increase in value due to the fact that the first applicant had rendered the property historical in using it in the exercise of his duties’.
FAA please note.
‘Dear Dom’ could have been a more realistic interactive experience..
Theatres showing the documentary should turn off the water supply at the lavatories, a couple of brief power cuts during the show, a couple of thugs and/or baton-wielding policemen in green uniform bursting in the theatre to beat up a patron drawn by lot, a whiff of tear gas and no snacks — except for Desserta “chocolate”
What compensation was awarded by the Mintoff regime to the residents of Marsa when he built that filthy power station in their own back yards?
Do Texans know that Joan is the daughter of a former socialist autocrat? And why did she spend her life fighting Western imperialism only to end up living and setting up business in the most neo-conservative/war-mongerer/redneck state in the world?
And while on the subject, I have always wondered why most male Maltese socialist intellectuals marry foreigners or ‘nisa tal-pepe’, live in the most conservative/middle class areas, and send their children to private or, worse still, church schools. It seems that they empathise with the ‘haddiem’ only theoretically.
This could also be the reason why they believe that Mintoff’s policies were positive for the ‘haddiem’ – because Mimtoff’s policies were only theoretically positive for the ‘haddiem’.
I have lived in mintoffian areas for most of my life and have seen how within one generation, due to Fenech Adami’s supposedly conservative policies, tfal mintoffjani could aspire to become certified accountants, lawyers and more, instead of foremen or supervisors in some socialist factory.
Mosta in the 1970s still had a big Nationalist majority. So to counter this and gain more seats from the discrict, Mintoff decided to build a housing estate, at Ta’ Mlit, and brought many of his supporters.
The Ta’ Mlit area, like Ta’ Qali, was till then renowned for being one of the best areas for agriculture. He did roughly the same thing in the 80s with the building of Santa Margerita estate in Mosta (mainly in the area facing the bridge and beyond). This time he delivered plots of land to his constituents (maybe Dr. Anglu Farrugia’s family can give us more details).
Under Mintoff’s regime, many other areas in Mosta (like Speranza / Zokrija / Blata l-Gholja areas) were expropriated without any compensation and given for free to others.
The Wied il-Ghasel bridge: the old iron bridge from the British period was left to degrade after the British left. This iron bridge, which blended perfectly with the surrounding valley, found its fate when it was destroyed to be replaced by one of the ugliest bridges imaginable – and this in such a delicate valley. Instead of making one consisting of a single arch (like that in Wied Speranza made by the British more than a century before and that of Contitution Str made by Strickland), they made it of several narrow arches and with rectangular colums built over the valley floor.
This blasphemy can be compared to the fate of post war Senglea/Bormla which from beautiful medieval cities (like Birgu) became the ugly cities of today with many of the houses rebuilt with Mintoff as their architect (another example is Valletta’s Mandragg).
I would have expected someone who spent all their life in Britain and the US would know the difference between a wild cat and a feral one.
For all his much-vaunted “intelligence” and academic brilliance, Mintoff had a rather poor grasp of English and, apparently, so does his daughter.
Acadenic brilliance? You joking? You too fell for that lie? What academic brilliance are you on about?
After Dom Mintoff obtained the Rhodes Scholarship because the colonial authorities were convinced no one like him would further the interests of the British empire better, he spent a couple of fiasco years at Oxford. His final grade was a third, which in academic language translates into “he failed, but he tried hard”.
This is all documented in the official history of the Rhodes Scholarship. But this failure has been consistently perverted, for home consumption, into “Mintoff’s academic brilliance”.
“Unsuccessfully, he submitted to the authorities proposals for a number of alternative locations and suggestions as to how the power station could be constructed in order to minimise the damage to his property,” the ECHR explained.
Now I start to understand the Labour campaigns, led by the Zero, against the Delimara powerstation.
Daphne, fl-okkazjoni tal-Gimgha l-Kbira, nirrakkomanda ftit riflessjonijiet fuq il-misteru tat-tbatija, li din is-sena smajna hafna dwaru. Forsi tistieden lil Mary Mifsud tikteb xi kelmtejn fuq is-suggett?
Oh well we know the man had divided Europe as that of Abel and Cain. Must have been the Europe of Cain that ruled against this poor man.
Wild cats; do these two cretins mean feral cats? If yes, they must be grateful because they are excellent rodent controllers.
Fil-vera sens tal-kelma ma ghandomx zejt f`wiccom. Imma kif ma jisthux.
Such sickening arrogance.
They claim that their property is being invaded by ‘wild cats’ and want compensation; what type and kind of compensation should one receive when one’s property is ransacked by thugs?
Just get in the qeueu will you?
Skond iz-zokk il-fergha.
i wonder if he had purchased the site/place legitimately in the first place or whether it was a case of taking for himself something he liked as his own.
Soemthing tells me that one of the worst and stupidest decisions that Joseph Muscat has made is to pull these two on board, one of them as a ‘star candidate’ and the other to write letters to The Times telling us to vote for Muscat……………Daphne SOMETHING mhux SOEMTHING..Qed tara kullhadd jista jizbalja beagle
Daphne, do you remember the John Gaul story? He was a great friend of Mintoff, who was wanted for questioning about the murder of his wife, and who escaped to his yacht Lotus Eater in Malta, and was protected from Britain’s attempts at extraditing him.
He too was extremely rich and a miser. I remember going to his house in the late 80s and was shocked at the state of it – tattered curtains, dirt and grime on all the furniture. However, he loved cars and in his garage in Malta he had the first-ever right-hand drive Lamborghini Countach, custom made for him, a Lamborghini Miura plus a Maserati Espada.
I remember Dom Mintoff’s mob used to mock Mabel Strickland because she could not speak Maltese. Now we have to ask: does his daughter speak the language?
I didn’t know we had wild cats roaming our island.
No wonder our feral cat population is decreasing. They’re being eaten by these wild ones.
L-unika kelma adattata hija parasiti.
Possibly not completely related to this post but I do see how positive discrimination could be just as annoying as negative discrimination even though it is not an intuitive notion.
Has Yana Mintoff been in Malta long enough to be able to contest the general elections? I recall losing my vote in 1996 as I had been away from the island for two years.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120408/interview/A-progressive-MintoffYana.414481
”You spent most of your life out of the country. What made you leave?
Work opportunities and education. When I first left I was very young and there was the interdiction of the Labour leaders. I couldn’t go to secondary school here without going to a Church school and since our family was being persecuted, my parents thought it best for me to go abroad.”
I went to a church school in the 1960s during the interdiction period. There were several girls with me who were the daughters of Labour MPs, editors and writers for Labour newspapers, and Labour supporters. They were not persecuted or victimised in any way and were just one of the crowd. But Yana Mintoff is special and had to be protected by flying her out of the country.
Watch out, Dr. Muscat.
Especially interesing last comment re interview with Yana Mintoff by Chris Peregin in The Sunday Times. She “would need more facts” about the human rights abuses of her father’s government.
I found her body movements very stiff and uneasy. Maybe she is not used to being asked time and time again about her father in Texas? She is in Malta now and if she is contesting the general election she has to get used to it.
That Yana Interview in The Sunday Times today needs careful reading. Unless the Maltese are careful, we will be heading towards a repeat performance. It seems that Muscat has been negatively influenced by this woman.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120408/interview/A-progressive-MintoffYana.414481
Faqqset fl’ahhar il-figolla li Dr. Joseph Muscat kien qed jahmi ghal popolin Malti.
Dan hu dak li tiehu meta tippredika rikonciljazzjoni nazzjonali ma dawn in-nies u issallab lil poplu li ivvutalek bit- taxxi ,u tfalli pajjiz biex troxx servizzi socjali frivoli LI MA HUMIEX SOSTENIBBLI biex tagevolhom, Drs Fenech Adami and Gonzi.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120408/interview/A-progressive-MintoffYana.414481
Irid ikollok wiccek infurrat bil-hara taz-zwiemel ta’ missierek biex sfaccatament taghmel revisionism hekk tal-istorja politika ricenti ta’ pajjizna –meta hawn eluf kbar li ghaddew min taht idejn missiera (u il-marmalja ikkontrollata minnu), ghadhom hajjin.
GRAZZI DOTTOR MUSCAT TALLI KULL FTIT JIEM, TFAKKARNI IL-GHALA MA GHANDIX NIVVOTA LABOUR.
“Clinton Paul performed new songs from his debut album during the Birthday Party of Zurrieq Mayor Natius Farrugia held at Montekristo” – is this preferential treatment?
Yana Bland the progressive firebrand who…”went back on her word” when the conservative paymasters of her school cried foul at a mural with two men kissing…
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2000-11-17/79445/
I would love to know how much the property cost Dumink in the first place.
I can’t understand how he got a permit to build in that area.
Good first question. Will he (or his estate) be liable for capital gains tax when the property is sold/inherited?
The second question may be further expanded to ask when the property was acquired by Mintoff and which Party was governing at the time.
A third question may be “Can it be confirmed that no government labour and materials were used in the construction of l-Gharix and its immediate access paths?”
Wasn’t it the PN that gave them the compensation (and special treatment) after winning the 1998 election?
[Daphne – No. It was the courts of law which ruled for compensation. We have separation of powers in Malta….now. And even if it were the government, it would have been the government, and not the Nationalist Party. Again, there is separation there….now.]
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=142506
What reason may Mr Franco Mercieca have to publicly slam the equipment he is provided with, to perform surgery in a STATE hospital?
Would he do the same if he found fault with equipment he uses reqularly in his PRIVATE clinics?
Daph, I’m sure that many people have told you about this http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120408/interview/A-progressive-MintoffYana.414481 or posted links to it, which you have not put online as yet.
Meanwhile, I think that this is a fitting reply to the poor excuse for a woman who “needs more facts” about her father’s breaching of human rights in Malta:
“beppe fenech adami
Yesterday, 18:27
15th october 1979. I was a young 11 year old at my home in B’kara when your father’s
protected thugs attacked and ransacked our home. On that day myself together with my
brothers and eighty year old grandmother fled for our lives over the neighbouring
roof tops. On that day your fathers protected thugs beat up my mother who tried to
enter our house to save us. On that day, at the same time all this was happening,
your fathers propoganda machine, through his state television, invented a lie and
broadcast that nationalist party supporters were ransacking the MLP B’kara. All this
Ms Yana Mintoff might help you to form an opinion on the democratic credentials of
your father. These facts might help you to understand what a mockery your father
made of human rights. I am sure that so many other people have their story to tell.
Beppe Fenech Adami”
Well said, Beppe. Many others have certainly got more atrocious stories to recount about those terrible times, which is why the very mention of the despot’s name still conjures up this horrible, indescribable feeling in people of our generation, even though a few decades have passed since then.
Lino Spiteri in his piece in today’s Times, skips “lightly” over the National Bank of Malta” episode. It seems that the stink of that episode has now dissipated from his nostrils.
Tassew elokwenti dan id-dokter;
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=544431389&ref=ts&__adt=4&__att=iframe
Luciano Busuttil
Saturday.
Bongu hbieb, l-Easter Buny gie jzurna dal-lejl u ghopllielna l-gas mill-gdid.
Jien ma ktibt xejn mindu hareg il-film li qal nofs storja dwar Mintoff. Imma dak li ghedt issa inti dwar il-kumpens li ha Mintoff ghall-villa ta’ Dellimara fakritni f’haga ohra li l-film Dear Dom halla barra cioe kemm serqu artijiet is-socjalisti.
Jigu quddiem ghajnejja t-toroq, bypasses u rekwizizzjonijiet ta’ artijiet kbar u raba kemm liberi u franki kif ukoll bil-qbiela. Rispett ta xejn lejn id-dritt fundamentali tal-propjeta privata.
Ghax hekk kien jghallem Karl Marx u Lenin u Stalin.
Taqbadni ghafsa ta’ qalb nghaddi minn postijiet li sas-snin tmenin kienet raba agrikola u li Mintoff hadielna lil familja tieghi biex harigha plots ghall-klassi tal-haddiema li tfisser ghas-socjalisti BISS. U lilna li konna s-sidien tal-artijiet ma taghna xejn … qas bicca plot imgiddem. Xejn! U llum is-sidien ta’ dawk id-djar qeghdin ibieghuhom mitejn elf 200,000 jew aktar …
Il-film halla wisq ingustizzji barra. Diga qaluha hafna din u ghalhekk m’hemmx fejn inzid.
No comments? Lura bhal-grancc!!
[Daphne – I have been away from my desk for five days, my dear. Rest assured that the comments are there. They just haven’t been uploaded. You should use your common sense: of course there are going to be comments about a subject like this.]
Perhaps Yana could tell us about the mess and dirt in his Tarxien Home and how the Health Inspectors were called to deal with the invasion of rats which were having a party in Dom’s filth.
John the Baptist survived on locusts, so is it a wonder that the Saviour is surviving on vermin?
It’s official. Now we all know from where Mr. V.Laiviera derives his pleasure and inspiration.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120411/local/Respect-for-art-is-in-rude-health.414952
“Doriette Rizzo Naudi
Today, 10:31
Though I am TOTALLY against vandalism, art is a thing of beauty which ought to give pleasure and inspiration….hands up anyone who has been inspired (in the right way), or has admired the phallic symbol in Luqa!
Reply to Doriette Rizzo Naudi
Victor Laiviera
Today, 11:24
Here’s one! “