A group of Gozitans facing threats from speculators greeted Archbishop Charles Scicluna with protests after he appeared in court in Gozo, Moviment Graffitti has said.

The Archbishop was there “to testify about his role in the land grab that has badly affected hundreds of residents and farmers in Gozo. The archbishop testified in a case in which a family has battled in court for the past four years against an attempt to evict them from their home that their ancestors built on land held by the family for 130 years.”

The land is part of a larger area that was placed in a medieval foundation whose point was to raise money for pious deeds, the NGO said.

“The foundress of the foundation, Cosmana Navarra, put decisive power in the hands of the archbishop: the power to appoint (and, legal experts say, dismiss) the administrative rector, and the power to consent to or veto any land transfer proposed by the rector.”

“But in contracts signed in 2017 and 2018, Archbishop Scicluna ‚renounced’ his right to consent to land transfers, and appointed the lawyer Patrick Valentino as rector, despite the fact that Valentino did not qualify to be rector in the specific terms imposed by Cosmana Navarra,” Moviment Graffitti said. “In the contracts, the archdiocese and archbishop also accepted the Stagno Navarra family’s claim of descent from Cosmana Navarra without asking to see any evidence or making any verifications of their claim.”

“Valentino then began to transfer developable lands to companies of the Stagno Navarras’ and others close to him – most developable land was transferred to a company in which the shareholders are the Stagno Navarras, the lawyer Carmelo Galea, and a company of the Montebellos’, including his partner and magistrate Rachel Montebello,” Graffitti said.

“These companies have now been selling this land to developers to build into flats, and making millions, such as the massive project being built in Qala by developer Joseph Portelli. Farmers are also starting to give up on their lands due to the medieval foundation increasing the prices of their leases.”

“Valentino even transferred the land on which the family battling eviction have their house. The land has been transferred to a company called Dei Conti Holdings, which belongs to the Stagno Navarras. This means that Valentino has already transferred the land subject to the court dispute even before the court decides on the case - this shows an element of arrogance and insensitivity.”

The protesters - many of whom are facing similar threats - gathered outside the court to express their solidarity and support for the family facing eviction, and to show their anger and disappointment in the archbishop, "whose renunciation of obligations or faculties imposed on him in the contract of foundation has contributed to suffering and environmental destruction in Gozo."