Daphne Caruana Galizia loses appeal in libel suit filed by former journalist Julia Farrugia

The court of appeal has confirmed a sentence which was handed to blogger and journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia regarding a libel suit filed by former journalist Julia Farrugia Portelli.

Back in 2015, Daphne Caruana Galizia was ordered to pay €3,000 in compensation to Julia Farrugia, who is a Labour Party election candidate for the upcoming election. Magistrate Francesco Depasquele had said that statements repeatedly made by Ms Caruana Galizia and reader comments on her blog included insinuations which did not constitute fair comment.

The court said Ms Caruana Galizia had made several insinuations against Ms Farrugia, describing her as a ‘cow’ and a ‘bitch’ while also insinuating that she was a prostitute who removed her clothes in public.

Mrs Caruana Galizia also stated that Ms Farrugia is the daughter of Karmenu Farrugia, who had been indicated by a court witness as the person responsible for the assassination of Raymond Caruana, when Ms Farrugia was still young.

The court did not accept the defence’s arguments that the blogger was not responsible for comments submitted by readers, given that she had the facility to remove comments but were still not removed until the case was filed.

Caruana Galizia had filed an appeal against the judgement.

Writing on Facebook, the PL candidate wrote that the court has ruled against the PN machine of lies before the 1996 election. She said the blogger tried to tarnish her family’s reputation by claiming a frame-up.

“The same person on which Simon Busuttil is basing his campaign on has lost an appeal. I dedicate this win to all those who were victims of the lies and political attacks,” Julia Farrugia wrote.