Vic: Magistrate's libel action a "threat to free speech", court

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Vic: Magistrate's libel action a "threat to free speech", court

By Nick Lenaghan

MELBOURNE, April 17 AAP - A columnist for Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper today slammedthe libel action he is facing from a senior Victorian magistrate as a "threat to freespeech".

During a Supreme Court defamation trial, Andrew Bolt refused to apologise for the columnhe wrote criticising the alleged leniency of some decisions by Deputy Chief MagistrateJelena Popovic.

Ms Popovic is suing Andrew Bolt and his employer, The Herald and Weekly Times, overhis December 13, 2000 column which, she says, called for her dismissal because she wasunfit to hold office.

Mr Bolt said the disputed column was a "truthful article" about an "important subject"

based on opinions he "sincerely held".

"I cannot apologise for opinions I hold or for expressing them," Mr Bolt said.

"That's what makes Australia a democracy," he said.

The article accused Ms Popovic of prejudging an arson case involving East Timor protesterswho burnt an Indonesian flag and alleges she bullied the police prosecutor and behavedinappropriately during a preliminary hearing of the case.

Mr Bolt's article also accuses her of hugging two drug traffickers she let walk freein an earlier case.

"If I thought she should have been sacked I would have said it," Mr Bolt said.

"If people gain the impression from what I have written that they thought she shouldbe sacked that's their point of view and they're entitled to it," he said.

Under questioning from Jeffrey Sher, QC, for Ms Popovic, Mr Bolt said he had no regretsabout writing the article but regretted having to defend his article in court and thestress it had caused his family.

"I regret the threat the free speech that this represents," he said. "I think it'sa misuse of the courts."

Mr Bolt said rejected suggestions he had "selectively quoted" from court transcriptsin writing his article.

Ms Popovic claims she was "case-managing" the arson case, according to guidelines,to simplify the issues and save court time and money.

She also rejected the claim she ever hugged two drug traffickers.

The trial continues before Justice Bernard Bongiorno.

AAP nl/gfr/cjh/de

KEYWORD: POPOVIC NIGHTLEAD