The husband of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has written to the Data Protection Commissioner in reply to a request made by Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna and Karl Cini to have personal information removed from the website that was previously run by the journalist.

In the letter, Peter Caruana Galizia argues that the request filed by Tonna and Cini is based on retroactive application of the law and is time-barred.

Caruana Galizia said Tonna and Cini filed a complaint with the Information and Data Protection Commission to have personal information, including photos of their passports, removed from a blog published by his wife on 10 May 2017.

Tonna’s and Cini’s complaint is based on a law which came into force on 28 May 2018, over a year after the blog post and images were published, Peter Caruana Galizia argued. No law can be applied retroactively. Consequently, no complaint based on retroactive application of the law should be admitted by the data protection commission. In addition, all action in terms of Chapter 586 is time-barred by the lapse of 12 months in terms of Article 30(4), Caruana Galizia said.

The magistrate leading the inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination has given instructions for the website content to remain untouched as it forms part of the proces-verbal. This means that the persons mentioned in it, including the complainants Brian Tonna and Karl Cini, are persons of interest in the murder investigation. Removing any part of the contents would mean being in contempt of court, Peter Caruana Galizia argued.

Tonna and Cini handled the offshore set-up of Panamanian accounts of Minister Konrad Mizzi and Chief of Staff Keith Schembri.