The conclusions of the public investigation requested by the family of the journalist killed in 2017. According to the judges, the reporter was exposed to her enemies by a corrupt government
The state should take responsibility for the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese investigative journalist killed with a bomb placed in her car on October 16, 2017 that instead of being protected she was exposed to her enemies by a corrupt government whose tentacles reached the top of the police.
a heavy judgment that contained in final report of the public inquiry conducted – after very strong pressure from the Council of Europe – by a commission composed of former presidents of the Tribunal Michael Mallia, Joseph Said Pullicino and Justice Abigail Lofaro and ended last spring. Over the past two years, the public investigation requested by the reporter’s family has led to the testimony of dozens of people, including investigators, politicians and journalists. Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, former Chief of Cabinet Keith Schembri and former Minister of Energy and then of Tourism Konrad Mizzi (the only one who refused to answer in court) also testified in dramatic hearings. The goal was to establish sand the Maltese state had done everything possible to protect the journalist and then prosecuting those responsible for the murder.
The state, the judges wrote in 437 page report published in full by the Maltese media and broadcast yesterday first to Prime Minister Robert Abela (who has already authorized the broadcast this morning despite having eight days of time) then to the Caruana Galizia family, it created an atmosphere of impunity, generated by the highest levels of the administration inside the Auberge de Castille (the seat of the Maltese government in Valletta), whose tentacles have spread to other institutions, such as the police and regulatory authorities, leading to the collapse of the rule of law.
The judicial investigation, still in progress, had a sudden acceleration in the summer of 2019 (almost two years after the arrest of the three material executors) when he was arrested entrepreneur Yorgen Fenech, considered the mastermind of the murder. The man was stopped trying to leave Malta aboard a yacht. A number of other corruption and money laundering investigations have resulted from the investigations to the arrest of Keith Schembri. In February, one of the three men accused of the murder pleaded guilty, negotiating a sentence of 15 years in prison. The trial for the other two accomplices has yet to begin.
Joseph Muscat, the former prime minister of Malta, si discharged at the end of 2019 following the protests of those who asked for the truth about the murder of the reporter who with his articles had denounced the corruption of both government and opposition politicians. In a statement on Facebook, Muscat tried to distance himself from the state of impunity mentioned in the report by noting that the arrests of the alleged hit men in two months and of the principal a few months later they deny any impression of impunity that the alleged perpetrators may have had. And he pointed the finger at previous governments during which high-profile crimes were committed, but no one was prosecuted.
In the report, the commission made a number of recommendations to improve laws and better protect journalists in Malta. Prime Minister Robert Abela called for a mature analysis of the relationship beyond partisan arguments. Lessons must be learned and reforms must continue with greater determination, Abela said in a social media post.
July 29, 2021 (change July 29, 2021 | 21:41)
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