Prime Minister Robert Abela this morning said the Nationalist Party's "extremist faction" has "just made the worst attack against the judiciary".

Writing on Facebook, the Prime Minister said that because a magistrate had ruled against them, "in a judicial act they accused her of being an accomplice in a crime and illegality. They also request an investigation on different levels against two magistrates."

Abela did not refer to any particular case, but it is understood that he was reacting to a story in MaltaToday in which former PN MP Jason Azzopardi filed an appeal in the Criminal Court, arguing that the decree rejecting his request for a magisterial inquiry was not issued by the magistrate who had initially been assigned with handling the requests.

A magistrate this week rejected three separate requests for magisterial inquiries which were filed by Azzopardi in relation to issues in Gozo. The requests were filed on 29 January this year and the subject matters ranged from mooring spots in Mgarr Harbour, a road in Nadur, and the long-delayed Gozo pool complex.

Azzopardi had initially filed the requests for magisterial inquiries between Christmas and New Year's Day but they were rejected as they were filed in Malta's courts, not Gozo's.  The former PN MP subsequently re-filed the requests, this time before the Gozitan courts.

All three of the magisterial inquiries came before Duty Magistrate Brigitte Sultana.  She rejected all three with nearly identical rulings.

Maltatoday reports that Azzopardi is claiming that the ruling was authored by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, despite previous indications that Magistrate Brigitte Sultana was handling the request.

The claim, the newspaper reports, is based on the electronic document containing the decree that was emailed to Azzopardi by the courts. The document author was listed as Donatella Frendo Dimech, who was not the magistrate dealing with the inquiry requests.

In his appeal filed on Wednesday, Azzopardi argues this raises questions about the legal process and the reasoning behind the rejection. 

In his comment on the social media, Abela said that this is an attack on the justice system which he condemned and which he will not ignore, especially given its source.

He said he noted the complete silence from the "Brussels friends of the extremist faction who hypocritically tarnish the country's image. This is absolute double standards."

PL condemns the PN's attack 

The Labour Party strongly condemns the PN's attack on the judiciary by what the PL said was "its extremist faction".

Their recent targets are the Judiciary and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the PL said.

If Bernard Grech has any authority left, he must deplore these attacks, which are only intended to intimidate the institutions from carrying out their work according to justice and truth, the statement added.

The message of the extremist faction that has total control over the PN is clear: either they do as they say, or they will attack back.

They did the same thing to their current leader when they put him in office after they ousted his predecessor, the PL said.

Now, because a magistrate did not decide as they wanted, they ended up accusing her of complicity in crime and illegality and want two magistrates to be investigated.

The same happened in Parliament - when the Speaker did not succumb to their pressure, they attacked and insulted him, the PL said.