NGO Repubblika came to author Mark Camilleri’s defence after the judge’s ruling ordered criminal action against Camilleri.

“The prosecution of Mark Camilleri is another attack on Maltese citizens’ right to know how the officials they elect spend people's money and how they open the door for criminals and mobsters,” Repubblika said in a statement.

In reaction to the judge’s orders, Repubblika called the Maltese to join them for a protest in Valletta on Friday at 6pm.

A judge ruled on Thursday that criminal action be taken by the police against author Mark Camilleri for breaching a court ban by publishing thousands of messages between Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar and Yorgen Fenech.

The chat exchange published on Tuesday revealed an intimate relationship between the former parliamentary secretary and the man now accused of being a mastermind in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Cutajar was at the time publicly defending Fenech when accusations were being levelled against him.

Repubblika released a public statement expressing its amazement at how fast the Police and the Attorney General were to act with the full force of the law against those who confront their friends in politics.

“The unequal and discriminatory application of the law is an abuse and violation of the rule of law.”

Repubblika said that this situation is even worse, as the law is being used to punish a writer who presented evidence he received to defend himself against a “libel suit filed against him because he told the truth.”

Repubblika added that what Camilleri said about Cutajar was in favour of the public’s interest, as it revealed the corrupt attitude of an MP and former Minister.

Repubblika pointed out that the Police and the AG were very quick to order criminal action against Camilleri, but for the proven crimes that Camilleri has been writing about and which the police have evidence of since 2019, the “Attorney General is yet to get out of bed.”