Minister Bedingfield – the worst expression

“There were occasions when I was harsh, and I could have been less harsh, and I also apologised to those whom I might have been harsh with”, Minister Glenn Bedingfield commented in reference to his blog targeting Daphne Caruana Galizia after the outrageous verdict was announced.

What Bedingfield did with his blog wasn’t “harsh”. It was state-linked intimidation and dehumanisation of a journalist. Bedingfield helped turn Caruana Galizia into a public target and contributed to the hostile environment which, the inquiry found, had facilitated her isolation and ultimately enabled her assassination.

Bedingfield’s flippant comments implied that he had uttered the isolated, intemperate or disparaging comment about Daphne Caruana Galizia. In fact, Bedingfield carried out a sustained, systematic campaign against the journalist while he held a taxpayer-funded official position in the Office of the Prime Minister.

He uploaded 1000 posts concerning Daphne Caruana Galizia, 597 of which carried her name in the title. That’s a level of obsession only surpassed by Keith Schembri, who, two years after her murder, still kept a folder with all of Caruana Galizia’s posts about him on his office desk in Castille.

Bedingfield acknowledged that he wrote some of those posts from his Castille office. He co-produced a television portrayal of Caruana Galizia as the “witch of Bidnija”. Probably his most despicable act was to publish a photo identifying her car and registration number. He told the inquiry that this was intended as “a warning to the people to be careful”.

Bedingfield knew Caruana Galizia was a target, that she had received threats and had already been subjected to attempted arson of her home, the killing of her dogs, and daily harassment and vilification. As a public official working in the OPM, he regaled potential murderers with vital information that enabled them to identify the car she was using. At best, it was plain reckless. His explanation that he intended to “warn” the public about her portrayed the journalist as a danger from whom citizens required protection. Her brutal assassination made it amply clear who needed protection, protection the state denied her.

No wonder that the public inquiry concluded that elements from within the OPM conducted an organised, sustained campaign to obstruct Caruana Galizia, undermine her credibility and dehumanise her. Crucially, it identified Bedingfield’s blog as that campaign’s “worst expression”.

Bedingfield’s recent comments only compound matters.

His statement that “I could have been less harsh” reduces his organised campaign of harassment and vilification to a question of tone. It avoids acknowledging the public inquiry’s damning verdict that his blog was the “worst expression” of Labour’s dastardly campaign against a single journalist. Bedingfield accepts no responsibility for contributing to Caruana Galizia’s dehumanisation. He offers no genuine, unconditional apology.

“I also apologised to those whom I was harsh with” provides no assurance that he understands the depravity of his conduct or the duties of the office he now holds.

Robert Abela leapt to Bedingfield’s defence claiming that as minister Bedingfield does not direct police investigations. Abela mocked Alex Borg claiming that the Opposition leader does not understand how the institutions work. Abela is the one who understands nothing, particularly that ministerial responsibility is broader than mere operational direction.

Bedingfield is responsible for the institutional framework, resources, leadership and public accountability of the police. Thanks to Abela’s pathetic judgment we now have a politician officially identified as a leading participant in the vile campaign against the murder victim holding political responsibility for the investigations the judge has called for based on evidence arising from the trial.

That creates a massive perceived conflict of interest. Bedingfield should have acknowledged what he did, accept the inquiry’s findings, apologise unreservedly to the family and the public and recuse himself completely from every matter connected with the murder investigations. Considering the severity of the inquiry’s findings, Abela should never have made Bedingfield minister, particularly police minister.

Now that the only man accused of masterminding the journalist’s murder has been acquitted, Bedingfield has no other avenue but to resign. Now that the judge has referred evidence about possible third-party offences to the Police Commissioner, political responsibility for the police rests with a man whom the public inquiry identified as being responsible for the worst expression of a state-backed campaign against the murder victim.

Justice must be administered by institutions that command public confidence and appear genuinely independent. Bedingfield’s presence completely destroys all confidence.

The international consequences matter too.

Reuters, the Associated Press and the Guardian have all reported the renewed outrage about the impunity on this island. Reporters without Borders were “beyond outraged”.

Malta’s failure to secure a conviction is viewed internationally through the inquiry’s conclusion that the state intentionally fostered a culture of impunity. In that context leaving Bedingfield in charge of the police sends precisely the worst message possible – that Robert Abela regards the inquiry’s findings as politically inconsequential and that he sees no incompatibility between participating in the dehumanisation of a journalist and subsequently becoming the minister responsible for law enforcement while her murder remains unresolved.

Bedingfield’s “maybe I was too harsh” comment is shallow, minimising and evasive. A minister who still presents his vile and deplorable behaviour simply as excessive harshness demonstrates that he has not understood the institutional damage he is inflicting on the nation.

Glenn Bedingfield should resign from Home Affairs minister. Of course, he won’t. Abela should remove him. But of course, he won’t. Responsibility for the police should at least be transferred to a minister with no connection to the campaign against Caruana Galizia. That would not repair nine years of institutional rot.

But refusing even that elementary safeguard makes Abela not only personally responsible for knowingly preserving that culture of impunity but also for further embarrassing Malta internationally.

Keeping Bedingfield in charge of the police while Caruana Galizia’s murder remains unresolved is the cruellest blow Robert Abela could deal her family and her memory.