I bet they already knew how it would play out, didn't bother serving it and relied on the arrest plus media denigration to do the actual damage. This "apology" and the inevitable lack of correction/retraction has done the damage.
This is also a possibility. I assumed more malicious intent, but it's certainly possible they knew the case wouldn't go anywhere, but they wanted to get the political utility of the public arrest.
I bet they already knew how it would play out, didn't bother serving it and relied on the arrest plus media denigration to do the actual damage. This "apology" and the inevitable lack of correction/retraction has done the damage.
This is also a possibility. I assumed more malicious intent, but it's certainly possible they knew the case wouldn't go anywhere, but they wanted to get the political utility of the public arrest.