Good evening,
These are the main news as reported by Malta’s portals.
- George Degiorgio’s lawyer, William Cuschieri, filed a court application this morning, asking the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction to declare that Degiorgio’s right to a fair hearing had been breached as the police were angling for evidence to justify his arrest in connection with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Degiorgio is claiming that despite the prosecution exhibiting footage of the vessel Maia entering and leaving the Grand Harbour, one of the officials presenting it had testified that he was not morally certain that the vessel shown was in fact the Maia. The police had requested the court to nominate experts to identify all the vessels which entered and exited the Grand Harbour between 230pm and 330pm on 16 October 2017 and compare them with a photograph of the Maia. The Malta Independent. Other reports from The Times of Malta and OneNews and NetNews.
- A maintenance worker, placed under preventive arrest after posting inflammatory comments against the police, has been granted bail pending judgment after admitting to his wrongdoing. Josef Vincenti, a 31-year old from Żabbar, had been arraigned 12 days ago following criminal investigations sparked off by his comments on Facebook which were considered as overstepping the limits of freedom of expression. Times of Malta
- Figures issued by the National Statistics Office show that there were 1,787 persons registering for work in August. This shows a decrease of 702 in unemployed persons when compared with the same month last year. Persons on unemployment register in August were 41 less than the previous month. TVM, One.
- ERA is still investigating whether the fumes released after the fire which took place in Magħtab earlier this month were toxic. Questions sent byNet were still unanswered.
- The decision taken about the db Project at Pembroke is a huge mistake, and not just because land allocated to it has been valued in cents, Alfred Sant says today. In his blog on The Malta Independent, Sant says it seems that no Maltese government is prepared to learn from experience. “The project will form part of a series of disasters in terms of the public interest, that have included among others Chambrai, Tigne Point and Smart City.”
- Earlier this morning, independent journalist and blogger Manuel Delia has taken Culture Minister Owen Bonnici and Director General at the Public Cleansing Department Ramon Deguara to the Constitutional Court. The application in the constitutional court was filed following the repeated removal of the makeshift memorial dedicated to the assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Newsbook. MaltaToday reports that at the same time, a number of other persons had placed candles and other related objects before the makeshift memorial “as a call for justice to be done with regards to her murder and the persons whom she investigated”.
- NewsBook reports that Maritime lawyer Ann Fenech explained that when a vessel is struck off the country’s register in legal terms, the vessel becomes a veritable pirate ship. It stops being entitled to fly the flag of that country and cannot travel the ocean unless it is answerable to a jurisdiction.
- A man on Monday was cleared of sexually abusing an eight-year-old child after a court concluded that the girl might have misinterpreted the accidental gestures of the accused whilst playing with children in the shallow waters of Pretty Bay. Times of Malta
