Daphne Caruana Galizia temporarily left the courtroom this morning during proceedings concerning the precautionary warrants Minister Chris Cardona and Joseph Gerada filed against her. 

Minister Chris Cardona and his EU presidency policy officer Joseph Gerada filed four precautionary warrants, which froze €47,460 of the journalist’s bank account, after she published allegations that the two men had visited a brothel in Germany while on official business.

Mrs Caruana Galizia’s defence council, lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel questioned why the amount frozen was the maximum that the court could impose. He went on to say that the freezing of her assets is in direct breach of the European Convention which is enshrined in the Constitution.

The court, he said, should not have issued garnishee orders since the case involved moral, rather than real damages. Such damages cannot be quantified unless and until the court found the statement defamatory. 

Dr Pawlu Lia, representing Dr Cardona and Dr Gerada, said the defendant “had a habit of writing about people from the comfort of her home. While Dr Cardona and Dr Gerada had been on business abroad, she wrote that they had gone to a brothel, had sex with each other and with a prostitute.”

Dr Lia claimed that ultimately the allegations were used for the purpose of financial gain. “The defendant was making profit from an abominable lie, intended to foment hatred against Dr Cardona, solely for political reasons. She is creating hatred. She is inventing things that have nothing to do with his work, or the truth, to ridicule him and fulfil the interest of small-minded people.

“I am ashamed to say that she also alleged that Dr Cardona was involved in a threesome with Mr Gerada. She didn’t say he is corrupt, that he favoured a nephew for a job, but that he had sex with another man and a prostitute.” It was for this reason that the Minister and Mr Gerada were seeking maximum damages, the lawyer said. He went on to say that she inflicted damage on Dr Cardona’s children, who are currently studying for their exams.

It was at this point that Mrs Caruana Galizia stormed out of the courtroom telling Dr Cardona “you should be ashamed of yourself; a married man going with prostitutes... it’s sickening.” She returned a few minutes later.
Dr Zammit Maempel, in response to Dr Lia's statements, told the court that he came to the courtroom "as a lawyer to make legal points. If someone wanted to be in a political meeting, they should go elsewhere." 
Dr Lia said an aggrieved party can still demand the freezing of assets. “Then again what is the problem? She raised a public scandal and the public raised more money than needed to satisfy the warrant.”

He went on to say that it was the courts, rather than journalists, who were the protectors of democracy. He then referenced an article by the Dean of the Faculty of Law Kevin Aquilina which spoke of the correct use of garnishee orders. 

“The first thing I learned in the law court was that rights carry obligations with them. Serious journalists are to be the first to protect their protection not by protection of their privileges but by thoroughness of their work,” he said.

Dr Zammit Maempel replied that Mrs Caruana Galizia was prepared to prove her case and face the proceedings.

The court will deliver its decree on the garnishee orders on 9 March.