Just when you think our country cannot go any lower, up comes another story that makes you believe there is another kind of lower which you hadn't yet conceived.
This evening, Cyrus Engerer, a criminal found guilty by the Court of Appeal of having stolen his former boyfriend's photos from his personal computer after stealing his way into his residence, of sending them to his employer and colleagues to try to tarnish his reputation because of his sexuality, of conceiving a "deceitful plan" of vindictiveness, of blackmailing and threatining the victim to withdraw proceedings under threat of revealing more stolen material, addressed a Labour Party activity.
In case you haven't understood it well, Cyrus Engerer has been found guilty of performing one of the worst homophobic acts we have ever witnessed on our island in recent years. (Yes, a homophobic act can be performed by a gay person. Especially a gay person for whom his sexual orientation is only a trait he exploits to attract votes and not simply a part of his being.) He's been found guilty of revenge porn. He's been found guilty of masterminding, in the judges' words, a deceitful plan to exact revenge on a person who trusted him but wanted to move on.
Yet tonight, we appallingly watched a Prime Minister defending such obscene behaviour as if it was an act of bravery, of a "soldier of steel". The same Prime Minister who a few weeks ago would have us believe was a champion of human rights and liberties, is now a champion of revenge porn and cyber-bullying. Many of us know that vindictiveness and deceit are well championed qualities within Labour, and that's why people refused by the PN are quickly welcomed in its open-for-all bin, but we never thought it would actually flaunt this.
Cyrus and Muscat claim he's the victim of political persecution. What did he and the Prime Minister expect the PN to do when it was in power? Order the police to stop proceedings because he's "one of us"? No Cyrus, that's what this government does. That's why the PN asked you to resign and Labour applauded you and welcomed you to its undignified ranks.
And what did they expect Judge Mallia to do? Postpone proceedings until he's safely elected to live off our taxes, off the same taxes who will now be forking €150,000 for his and Labour's irresponsibility, given they knew about these proceedings since the day he joined their ranks? Thank God the judiciary and its independence are constitutionally safe from this government's vindictive clutches.
The worrying thing is that tonight these people celebrated vindictiveness. They celebrated real negativity, real attacks on an innocent person. They celebrated blackmail and threats. They celebrated cyber-bullying (where are the hypocritical Deborah Schembri and JPO?). They applauded revenge porn, which has in some cases led its victims to suicide. They condemned a police force for taking action against a perpetrator (as they did in a similar case a few months ago). They criticised a political party for having asked the accused to resign until the case is decided, and a judge for sentencing the perpetrator to a two-year suspended sentence. They portrayed Engerer the perpetrator as a victim, a "soldier of steel", and a hero. Yet the only victim and hero is his former boyfriend for what he suffered and for forgiving him such a malicious and atrocious action.
Having celebrated and applauded this, these people confirmed they are a threat to society, a threat to our children's well-being, and a threat to democracy, its independent institutions and its separation of powers.
And the most worrying thing is that these people include not only Cyrus Engerer and his applauders. They include our Prime Minister.
A Prime Minister who went as far as to claim that "Cyrus is now baptised as a soldier of steel and we will be with him as a family". Which effectively means that this government is admitting it acts on the modus operandi of a criminal organization, intent solely on defending its own, even attacking the institutions which took action on their criminal behaviour.
If there ever was a case where "shame on you" was justified, it is this one.
Shame on you Cyrus. Shame on you Joseph. Shame on you applauders.
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