The Chamber of Advocates today condemned and deplored an article that was written by Prime Minister’s aide Glenn Bedingfield against Madame Justice Lorraine Schembri Orland. The article was published on the PM aide’s blog, and is called “Flok hadet siggu tathom tnejn”.

The article refers to the judgment delivered by Madam Justice Schembri Orland on Thursday. She ruled that the Nationalist Party should be given two extra seats in Parliament because of mistakes carried out in the counting process during the 2013 election. In his blog, Bedinglfied implied that after not being elected for the Nationalist Party in 2012, Madam Justice Scjembri Orland compensated by giving the PN two seats the party does not deserve.

In its statement, the chamber said that is always respected freedom of expression and the media, and everyone has the right to contest a judgment. But it is unacceptable that a judgment is turned into a personal matter and it is the judge who is criticised.

Over the years, several people who had been politically involved had been appointed judges and magistrates but they were always impartial in their judgments in the best interests of justice.

Comments made by Bedingfield are more condemnable as they come from an aide to the Prime Minister because they undermine the confidence and respect that judges and magistrates enjoy.

The chamber expects the Prime Minister to publicly disassociate himself from the comments while the Justice Minister should immediately condemn Bedingfield’s comments which could have negative repercussions on the judicature’s independence, not only locally but also internationally.