Career criminal Alfred Bugeja, known as il-Porporina, has denied a newspaper report that he was strapped to a so-called “torture chair”. Testifying in court, he also lavishly praised former prisons director Alex Dalli. The grey-haired, spectacled inmate was escorted to court to testify in libel proceedings filed by Dalli against MaltaToday over a story published in December 2020 about the “Corradino inmate strapped to restraint chair.” The former director had denied claims in the report and went on to sue the newspaper and the journalist for libel. Dalli suspended himself in November 2021 following a string of suicides and deaths behind bars that saw simmering concerns about his methods boil over. He never returned to the post and has instead been given a government appointment in Libya. Bugeja told the court that after the newspaper report was published, a fellow inmate came up to him remarking, “so it’s true that they saw you strapped to a wheelchair.” Since he was unable to read, his friend read out the newspaper report, showing him the writing along with a picture of himself. Bugeja said that story had also stirred up trouble with his wife, who had scolded him for...