The courts have acquitted a man charged with using abusive language with the intention of inciting racial hatred.
Brandon Bartolo had also been charged with the misuse of electronic equipment, and relapsing.
The charges surrounded a number of posts on the Ghaqda Patrijotti Maltin Facebook page. The posts dealt with an EU Court's decision to ban religious symbols in the work place.
Bartolo's legal team argued that the legal requisites for inciting racial hatred weren't present.
Magistrate Joe Mifsud said that many of the comments can be taken as freedom of expression, but others go beyond. He said that when one extreme comment is made, others of encouragement follow and others shoot reckless comments without paying attention, mistakenly believing that they have a right to say certain things. This, he said, is where the responsibility of site administrators come in.
The magistrate noted that in the comments present on the page, showed that those posting were concerned about the challenges the EU faced in terms of illegal immigration. He noted that there is a sentiment that the Maltese are being discriminated against as the media gives more importance to complaints that affect immigrants, rather than how the Maltese are affected.
The court noted that the accused's words had to also be taken in the context of what was being written by others, as well as where it was written.
The court held that in this case, Bartolo expressed his opinion on a previous post, and that his intention was to express his opinion. The court said that the words used did not result in damage, annoyance or offence to others.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2DPF47s
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