There is a very positive development with regards to artistic freedom. A working group set up by Minister Mario de Marco is studying changes in the procedure used for prosecuting artists.
This was sparked by the case of Realta' two years ago, when a student and writer were charged over an explicit short story published in a student newspaper.
At the time, I was one of the few who spoke about the need of reviewing our censorship/obscenity laws with regards to theatre and literature, mentioning the Realta' and Stitching case in the PN General Council of June 2011: "Ma nistgħux nibqgħu passivi meta...għandna lil min qed jirriskja l-ħabs għax ippublika storja fl-ogħla istituzzjoni akkademika ta' pajjiżna...meta għandna produzzjonijiet teatrali li jiġu ċċensurati mill-pubbliku adult." [We cannot remain passive in a situation where someone is risking jail-time for publishing a story in our country's highest academic institution...where theatrical productions are being censored from an adult public.]
The fact that they were later acquitted showed that there was not much to change within the law itself and that it was correctly being applied by the judiciary, but changes were needed on the criteria, or lack of, on which the police prosecute artists. Hopefully, this working group will bring up a better balance and more consistency.
Feedback by the public on the proposals can be sent to classification.mtce@gov.mt by August 10.
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