Owen Bonnici


Owen Bonnici is a Maltese politician who is currently Minister for Education & Employment since 15 January 2020.
Following the March 2013 General Elections, he was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Justice. After a cabinet reshuffle he was made Minister of Justice, Culture and Local Government in March 2014.

Political life

Bonnici was first elected to Parliament in 2008 from the third electoral district, which is made up of the residents of the towns of Fgura, Marsascala and Zejtun. After serving as Opposition Spokesperson for Youth and Culture and subsequently for Higher Education, University, Research and Culture, he was handsomely elected in the 2013 elections. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat appointed him Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Justice and then Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government.
Prior to his election to Parliament he served on the Local Council of Marsascala for five years, first as a Councillor and then as Deputy Mayor, and as an elected member of the Labour Executive Council.
Bonnici was responsible for a number of initiatives undertaken during the legislature, including the Whistleblowers' Act, Justice Reform and the Individual Investors' Program.

Controversy

On 30 January, 2020, the Constitutional Court of Malta ruled that Minister of Justice Bonnici had breached the human rights of protesters for justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia by repeatedly and vexatiously ordering the clearing of the makeshift memorial at the foot of the Great Siege Monument throughout 2018 and 2019. In its ruling finding that Bonnici breached blogger and activist Emmanuel Delia and others' freedom of expression repeatedly for over 500 times, the Constitutional Court held that Bonnici's orders amounted to a "systematic" censorship that led to an "absurd" and "divisive" situation. Bonnici's acts were previously condemned by, amongst others, the Council of Europe, the United Nations and the OSCE.
The Court ordered damages for the plaintiff.
Calls for his resignation are ongoing.