Justice and Culture Minister Owen Bonnici has indicated that he has no plans to intervene and implement further legal training for the judiciary with regard to culture and the arts.

The Malta Independent on Sunday approached Bonnici in the light of the play Stitching, which was banned in Malta in 2010. This ban was overturned by the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) earlier this month, which brought to an end what was described by Stitching's producer, Adrian Buckle, as "one of the darkest episodes ever experienced by Maltese Theatre."

Talking to this newspaper, he said: "As my co-producer Chris Gatt mentioned to another news outlet, it is time the Maltese judiciary is equipped and trained to handle such cases so there won't be a repeat of this terrible incident. We have been congratulated by the Justice and Culture Minister and now we are laying down the gauntlet to him to take on board our suggestions and make sure that his judges are properly trained."

Asked whether anything from the government side will be done to make sure that judges are trained to deal with matters involving culture and the arts in the future, a spokesman for Bonnici indicated that no further plans are in the pipeline.

"All the members of the judiciary have regular training, organised by the Judicial Studies Committee," he said. "These will be both general and specific in nature."

In a follow-up question, this newspaper asked whether, therefore, such training already exists, if so since when and whether it existed when the play was banned in Malta.

"There is a Judicial Studies Committee headed by a former member of the judiciary which conducts ongoing training for the judiciary," said the spokesperson. "The Ministry would not know the specific training programmes for judges but in general terms, the training offered is vast and extensive."

Buckle described the decision made by Malta back in 2010 as "amateurish in nature".

Earlier this month, the ECHR ordered Malta to pay €20,000 to the theatre company Unifaun Theatre Productions Ltd and Maltese nationals Adrian Buckle, Christopher Gatt, Maria Pia Zammit and Mikhail Acopovich Basmadjian after illegally banning the play by Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson.

The reasons for the decision to ban the play included the fact that it was blasphemous, that it showed contempt for the victims of the Auschwitz death camp, that it portrayed dangerous sexual perversions and referred to the sexual assault of children.

Both the government and the Labour Party praised the decision taken by the court, saying it was yet another victory for freedom of expression.