Man who posted offensive comments about MEP Metsola retracts comment

A 66-year-old who posted an offensive comment suggesting MEP Roberta Metsola should be “burned alive” has been granted bail.

Emmanuel Navarro, from Naxxar, was last week charged with misuse of electronic equipment, inciting hatred, insulting and threatening Metsola and breaching an earlier conditional discharge.

He had been denied bail but was allowed to return home yesterday after retracting the comment and apologising.

Towards the end of the sitting, Navarro’s daughter fainted and was escorted out of the courtroom.

Metsola, who had filed a police report against Navarro, told the court yesterday that the Facebook post had put her family in danger.

Metsola had previously come under fire for her role in a rule of law debate held at the European Parliament following the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“Someone doing their job in the European Parliament, who stands up and speaks about the rule of law... I don’t think that someone should be threatened in this way,” Metsola said yesterday.

Defence lawyer Franco Debono, assisting Navarro together with legal procurator Peter Paul Zammit, told the court that their client wished to apologise for what he had posted and was retracting the comment “without any prejudice to his guilt or otherwise.”

A request for bail was upheld against a deposit of €500 and a personal guarantee of €2,000, with a protection order in favour of the MEP being renewed by the court.

The case continues in December.

Someone doing their job in the European Parliament, who stands up and speaks about the rule of law... I don’t think that someone should be threatened in this way