THE JURY SPOKE. THE MOB SAID NO

Yorgen Fenech is acquitted by a jury by practically an absolute majority. What happens next: The jury system is attacked. The jurors are attacked. The verdict is questioned.

Then comes a full-blown media campaign, even dragging in Melvin Theuma, the man who was granted a presidential pardon, to keep the narrative alive. All this because the jury’s outcome wasn’t the outcome some expected. It didn’t fit the narrative that has been fed to the public for years. And now, when Fenech’s lawyers issue legal cautions, we are somehow being told that this is an attack on freedom of expression!

Unbelievable. It is obvious that Fenech’s head is wanted at all costs — regardless of the avenues opened during the trial, regardless of what a jury has decided, and regardless of whether the relentless pursuit of a predetermined narrative is taking us further away from the truth.

It would be fair to say that while a segment of the public may be baying for Fenech’s head regardless of the verdict, the majority is not. And no protest, no media campaign, no orchestrated outrage can be allowed to override a jury’s decision without tipping the country into something bordering on mob rule. When we call for a verdict to be overturned through pressure and narrative, we are no longer talking about justice — we are talking about a lynching dressed up as public opinion.

It is also worth noting, in passing, that judicial appointments have not been in the Prime Minister’s gift for some time now — a prerogative this government itself chose to relinquish. So the suggestion that the judiciary somehow serves the government’s will doesn’t stand up. What we are witnessing is not a defence of judicial independence. It is a political protest, dressed in the language of justice, aimed at a verdict certain people didn’t want.

The jury has spoken. Those who cannot accept that verdict are, in effect, arguing that justice should only count when it delivers the result they wanted. That is not justice — it is entitlement dressed up as principle. The verdict stands, and it deserves to be respected, not relitigated in the press.