Civil Court First Hall (Constitutional Jurisdiction)
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This translation from the Maltese original is provided by 93/2018 JZM The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. www.daphne.foundation CIVIL COURT FIRST HALL (CONSTITUTIONAL JURISDICTION) THE HON. MR JUSTICE JOSEPH ZAMMIT MCKEON Today Thursday 30th January 2020 Case No. 1 Application No. 93/18 JZM Emanuel Delia – ID. No. 0560176M vs The Honourable Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government Owen Bonnici (ID. 273280M) and the Director General of the Cleansing and Maintenance Division Ramon Deguara (ID. 83474M) and by decree of the 14th January 2019 Dr 1 This translation from the Maltese original is provided by 93/2018 JZM The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. www.daphne.foundation Joseph Brincat was authorised to intervene in the case in statu et terminis 2 This translation from the Maltese original is provided by 93/2018 JZM The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. www.daphne.foundation The Court: I. Preliminaries Having regard to the application filed on the 24th September 2018 which reads as follows – The Facts 1. That on Saturday 15th September 2018 at around half past ten in the morning (10.30 a.m.), the plaintiff with the assistance of a number of other activists placed a banner on the hoarding which is covering the Great Siege monument in Republic Street, Valletta, where the banner represented the Maltese flag, with the word “JUSTICE” and the picture of the assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. At the same time, the plaintiff, in the presence of a number of activists and other persons, also placed flowers, candles and other related objects in front of the said banner and all this in remembrance of the said Daphne Caruana Galizia as a call for justice to be done for her assassination and in regard to the persons whom she investigated as part of her work. 2. That at around two o’clock in the afternoon (2.00 p.m.) of the same day, the plaintiff received information that the said banner, flowers, candles and other objects were removed by Government workers. 3. That since this fact was still not confirmed by the plaintiff when the above-mentioned objects were removed, he proceeded by filing a report at the Valletta Police Station (copy attached here in annex and marked as Doc. A) where he explained what had happened and requested the Police to carry out its 3 This translation from the Maltese original is provided by 93/2018 JZM The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. www.daphne.foundation investigations. 4. That whilst he was filing the report with the Police, the plaintiff was informed that the said banner, flowers, candles and other objects had been removed by the Cleansing and Maintenance Division workers within the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government. The plaintiff, through his lawyer and in the presence of the Police, contacted the respondent, the Director General of the Cleansing and Maintenance Division within the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government, Mr Ramon Deguara, who confirmed that the banner, flowers, candles and other objects had been removed by the Cleansing and Maintenance Division workers. The plaintiff, through his lawyer, requested the Director General of the Cleansing and Maintenance Division that the said banner, flowers, candles and other objects are returned to him immediately at the Valletta Police Station. On his part, the Director General of the Cleansing and Maintenance Division informed the plaintiff's lawyer that the said banner, flowers, candles and other objects were being returned to the plaintiff by the Division workers at the Valletta Police Station, as in fact happened a little while later. 5. That as soon as the said banner, flowers, candles and other objects were returned to him, that is at around half past five in the afternoon (5.30 p.m.), the plaintiff once again placed the said banner on the hoarding which is covering the Great Siege monument and also placed the flowers, candles and other relative objects on the ground in front of the said monument, in preparation for an activity which was to held the following day, that is, on Sunday 16th September 2018, eleven months after the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. 6. That at around eight o’clock in the evening (8.00 p.m.) of the same day of Saturday 15th September 2018, the plaintiff filed an urgent application for the registry to be opened after hours in order to file an application for the issue of a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the respondent authorities, which were, ex admissis, responsible for the removal and appropriation of the said 4 This translation from the Maltese original is provided by 93/2018 JZM The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. www.daphne.foundation banner, flowers, candles and other objects, which in fact are the protest manifestation of the plaintiff, as well as a section of the people who are still insisting and expecting justice to be done for the stolen life of Daphne Caruana Galizia and in regard to the persons she investigated as part of her work. 7. That by decree of that same day, that is, Saturday 15th September 2018, the Honourable First Court of the Civil Court ordered the notification of the warrant to the respondents with a ten day period for reply whilst appointing the same warrant for a hearing on 5th October 2018 at 11.30 a.m. And therefore, almost three weeks after the facts which led to the plaintiff filing an urgent application. In its decree, the Court did not make provision that the warrant should be temporarily granted. 8. That in view of all this, the plaintiff, together with some other persons, had to keep watch of the said banner, flowers, candles and objects during the night between Saturday 15th September 2018 and Sunday 16th September 2018 as well as during the day on Sunday 16th September 2018 in order to ensure that these were not removed again by the respondents, a responsibility which the plaintiff rightly considers to be that of the State. At around four o’clock in the morning (4.00 a.m.) on Sunday 16th September 2018, some Cleansing and Maintenance Division workers went to the Great Siege monument to remove and appropriate once again the said banner, flowers, candles and other objects, but when they saw the plaintiff and other persons present at the location, the same workers decided to leave the place. 9. That in the early hours of Tuesday 18th September 2018, some Cleansing and Maintenance Division workers once again removed and took the said banner, flowers, candles and other objects from in front of the Great Siege monument and therefore the plaintiff once again filed a report at the Valletta Police Station. Once again workers under the responsibility of the respondent Director General of the Cleansing and Maintenance Division, and of the Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government admitted 5 This translation from the Maltese original is provided by 93/2018 JZM The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. www.daphne.foundation once again to the Police that they were the ones who had removed and taken the said banner, flowers, candles and other objects and, in the present of officials and members of the Police Corps, they informed the plaintiff that the respondent Minister for Justice had personally given instructions to the Cleansing and Maintenance Division for this to be done. The said banner, flowers, candles and other objects were returned to the plaintiff by the Cleansing and Maintenance Division workers and he was requested to sign a receipt which noted all the above, a copy of which is attached and marked as Doc. B. The plaintiff, together with several other persons, immediately went to the Great Siege monument and, together with other persons, once again placed the banner on the hoarding which is covering the Great Siege monument and placed the flowers, candles and other relative objects in front of the same banner. 6 This translation from the Maltese original is provided by 93/2018 JZM The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. www.daphne.foundation 10. That on Wednesday 19th September 2018, once again in the early hours of the morning, some Cleansing and Maintenance Division workers again removed and took the same banner, flowers, candles and other objects from in front of the Great Siege monument and, instead of offering to return them back to the plaintiff, the respondent Director General of the Cleansing and Maintenance Division proceeded to file them at the registry of the First Hall of the Civil Court by means of a Schedule of Deposit number 1750/2018 in the records of the warrant of prohibitory injunction in the names of Emanuel Delia et vs the Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government et (Warrant of Prohibitory Injunction No 1462/2018), whereby the said Schedule of Deposit was signed by the Attorney General’s Office and in which it was stated that the said objects should be released “to whomever has a right over them according to law". 11. That as fact the plaintiff is aware of seventeen (17) occasions when the said objects were removed from the monument, or near it, or more recently, its hoarding, but since this always happened during the night, he could never identify who was conducting these actions. It was only on the 15th September 2018 that the plaintiff became aware with certainty that they were Government employees, that is, workers under the responsibility of the respondent Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government, the Permanent Secretary and the Director General of the Cleansing and Maintenance Division, were, by order of the same respondents, removing and taking any flowers, candles, posters and other objects which were placed in front of the Great Siege monument.