It is now open warfare: Minister Chris Cardona has used the nuclear option - even before lodging a libel case against Daphne Caruana Galizia for her allegations that he visited a brothel while on government duty in Germany he has caused a garnishee order to be served upon her amounting cumulatively to €46,000.

This is something that is perfectly legal, and that has been used before to silence critics. But it is a very rare weapon and usually not employed in libel cases. It is the law used to the point of exasperation.

The allegations against Minister Cardona were very grave. They also completely captivated public interest at a time when it should have been focused on the EU heads of government meeting in Malta.

One expected the minister and his staffer to file libel court procedures. Both accuser and accused looked forward to their day at court.

It is however true that court proceedings in Malta take a very long time to reach any sort of resolution as the system is built around a long series of sittings, some of which can simply get postponed by months at the request of either party. This is a blemish that has many times been pointed out and which impacts on anybody who has a case in court. With an election round the corner, Minister Cardona could not afford to have this accusation hanging over his head.

But the garnishee order will do nothing to speed up proceedings. First of all, it should have been clear that Daphne would find popular support to help finance build a fund, as started happening right from yesterday. She could also turn to cloud funding. And if it is in the minister's interest to speed up proceedings, it could be that this urgency could be frustrated, and all in perfectly legal terms.

The outcry against the minister in the country has been immediate and huge. It is true that there have also been huge silences where there should not have been. But people who have been long-time critics of DCG have been writing that for all their negative judgment of the lady, they were dead against the garnishee order.

We have seen a long list of people in the public sphere who have written to list why they do not agree with DCG, but that they disagreed even more with the garnishee order. This shows how much the principle of Voltaire that he is dead against what a person said but that he defends to death the right of that person to say it has filtered down to the lowest levels of Malta's public. It shows that democracy is alive and kicking in Malta.

Every country has its own laws, judicial processes, and all the legal environment it deems right. Melania Trump is suing the Daily Mail for allegations about her past. It has been shown that libel processes in the US and in Britain can cripple a company. In Malta, despite long-standing promises to remove it, it is still possible to lodge criminal libel processes which can send a journalist to jail. Other countries have done away with this.

At the end, what has the minister gained by his garnishee order? There was the shock wave that swept over the country on Wednesday like the lightning storm that followed in the night. Did he persuade any one person who was tempted to believe in Daphne to change conviction? Or did he lead people to conclude that his reaction was that of a schoolyard bully who used the nuclear option because he was not so sure the legal process would work?

At the end, this is a straight fight between the minister and the journalist. But the difference is that while many have criticised Daphne for her many stories where people have been hurt, and yet they have supported her in her present predicament, one still has to find someone who can criticize the minister and yet support his stand.