A lawyer representing the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom is in Malta to monitor court proceedings against three men accused of executing the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
1/1Tomorrow I'll be monitoring the first hearing in #Malta Magistrate Court.The prosecution will submit evidence against three suspects charged with killing of #DaphneCaruanaGalizia. @ECPMF will be tweeting & will publish an article on its website.
— Flutura Kusari (@fluturakusari) January 31, 2018
On Wednesday, Flutura Kusari – a media lawyer – tweeted “I hope to see other international NGOs present at the court. This is the most important legal case concerning (non)safety of journalists in #Malta & #Europe. We need to keep en eye on how the authorities are handling it.”
The hearing of witnesses has started. I do not see any representative of the @EU_Commission , @coe @Europarl_EN or any other international organization present at the courtroom. How come? This is the most important case on (non) safety of journalists! #malta #WhoKilledDaphne
— Flutura Kusari (@fluturakusari) February 1, 2018
However as the proceedings got underway on Thursday morning, Kusari said that no other organisations were in court to monitor the compilation of evidence in what she described as “the most important case on (non) safety of journalists!”
Last month, the Council of Europe Platform for the Promotion of Journalism and the Protection of Journalists called on the Council of Europe to appoint a special rapporteur to monitor the ongoing murder investigation and make an assessment of the contextual circumstances that led to her murder.
The organisation expressed deep concern over the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of Caruana Galizia which it said “raised concerns not only about protection of critical journalists but also about the rule of law and corruption in Malta.”