On 7 March, hunters held a march in Valletta that soon turned ugly against some members of the press, including journalist Julia Farrugia who was beaten up.

Ms Farrugia wrote about her experiences at the march in an article on Illum of 11 March entitled “FKNK officials threaten members of the press”.

She was sued by Joe Buttigieg and Lino Farrugia, respectively president and secretary of the Federazzjoni Kaccaturi Nassaba Konservazzjonisti (FKNK).

The case was brought before Magistrate Dr Michael Mallia who could not ascertain the real sequence of events because Ms Farrugia did not present her version of the facts.

Mr Buttigieg and Mr Farrugia denied they had urged people to beat up the media representatives: on the contrary, they said, they went on the spot to see that further incidents were avoided and to calm people.

The court found that a paragraph in the Illum report where it claimed a man who was accompanied by Mr Farrugia called Julia Farrugia names and told her to shut up was not libellous in Mr Farrugia’s and Mr Buttigieg’s case.

However, the court found that the title of the report was indeed libellous since it claimed that FKNK officials had threatened members of the press, and fined Ms Farrugia Lm200.