A court has upheld a ruling that a prison guard must pay €5,000 after he was found guilty of having made an improper use of the electronic media.
The accused, Vincent Debono, was convicted in May 2016 of having posted an offensive statement on Facebook, but was not found guilty of inciting racial hatred. He had admitted to the charge of misuse of electronic equipment, but contested the charge of inciting racial violence.
In the appeal, Mr Debono asked the court to reduce the €5,000 fine.
The case dates to October 2015, when Debono posted a comment below an article being shared on Facebook entitled: 'Third refugee shelter torched in Sweden in six days'.
The accused reacted to the article by posting: "i hope its (sic) burning with them inside".
The comment was flagged by columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia in her blog and was brought to the attention of then-director of prisons Raymond Zammit.
Madame Justice Edwina Grima noted that his job as a prison warder meant that he was in contact daily with inmates from all races and colour. She also noted that through modern day technology, a comment made against someone miles away is just as relevant as one made against someone close by.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2lzasR1
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