The Labour Party is claiming that Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina laughed in Parliament on Wednesday when his Labour counterpart, Carmelo Abela, got emotional as he recounted the ordeal he and his loved ones went through following allegations made about him.

"Abela's touching moment was met by a laughing Karol Aquilina," the PL said in a statement.

Yesterday was another occasion that showed how the extremist faction has taken absolute control of the Nationalist Party, the PL said.

Abela was speaking in Parliament on the libel case he instituted against former PN MP Jason Azzopardi.

In reply, Aquilina denied the accusation, saying that the Labour Party was arrogant enough to dismiss proposals that would protect journalists better. 

In a statement in reply, the PN condemned the "campaign of lies, vilification, and hatred" that the Labour Party and its exponents are carrying out against Shadow Minister for Justice Karol Aquilina.

It is clear that the aim of the Labour Party's campaign is to incite violence against Aquilina, thereby putting him and his family in clear danger.

As part of this campaign, the Labour Party is now resorting to lies against him. Just last week, Robert Abela went so far as to invite MP Karol Aquilina to a fight when, in Parliament, he repeatedly told him, "Come outside, I'll show you!" The PN recalled that, over the past few years, several individuals have been found guilty by the country's courts of hate speech against Aquilina.

What the Labour Party is saying about Aquilina is a lie, the PN said. His behaviour in Parliament has been serious, dignified, and respectful, and at no point did he laugh or pass any remarks about Abela. This can be confirmed by the representatives of the Institute of Maltese Journalists, who were also present in the Parliament's strangers' gallery.

All this shows that the Labour Party has learned absolutely nothing from the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and continues to use the same disgraceful tactics against those who criticise it and expose its corruption, the PN said.

Aquilina has already been the victim of a frame-up orchestrated by the Labour Party and its media, for which the Labour Party has yet to apologise.

The Partit Nazzjonalista also recalls that there was an attempt to frame Aquilina and several other PN MPs when, in March 2019, they were sent packages containing drugs. This case remains unsolved by the police to this day, despite a magisterial inquiry being conducted, the PN said.