PL Deputy Leader Toni Abela today lost a libel suit against blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia over a blog post in August 2008.

The blog post was titled – “Ajma x’biza, an earthquake warning, hej”.

The part of the post in question read – “Joseph Muscat gave another ‘earthquake warning’ in his usual column in The Times, yesterday. He’s unhappy with the party system that elects clowns, idiots and incompetents to key roles – except where he is concerned, of course. The people who elected Toni Abela, Anglu Farrugia and Jason Micallef also elected him, but he obviously fails to see the connection and that he’s part of the joke. In his own way, he is as crassly incompetent as the rest of them.”

Dr Abela felt defamed by the post.

The court noted that Dr Abela kept deferring the case from 25 January 2010 and November 18, 2013, during a total of 21 sittings in order to see what he was going to do with the case.

The court expressed its dissatisfaction with the procrastination of the case.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale said that it is judges and magistrates who are judged by the people for delays, bu it is not always their fault. He said it is clear, particularly in libel cases, that those involved and their lawyers are part of the reason for the procrastination.

The court noted that Dr Abela was a political figure and is subject to a higher level of criticism than a normal person.

The court also noted that the post was not directed at him, but at the leadership of the Labour Party at the time, and noted that the points expressed were an expression of opinion, thus being “fair comment” and not a “statement of fact”.