Calls for justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia seven years after her murder

Citizens gathered in Valletta today to pay tribute to journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on the day marking her brutal murder in Malta seven years ago.

The protest followed a gathering in Bidnija, where she was killed by a car bomb on 16 October 2017. After the Valletta protest, a vigil was held, organised by Repubblika and Occupy Justice, which has been held every month over the last seven years.

Speakers included Tiberio Bentivoglio, who survived attempts by the mafia in Italy to kill him because he would not meet their demands. He said Daphne was killed because she had the courage to speak.

“I bow before her, before the strength of this mother who will forever live among us,” Bentivoglio said. “Holding power to account is democracy. All of us need to do it, all the time.”

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also paid tribute to Daphne, saying “seven years is too long to wait for some semblance of justice, but we will not falter. Not for a day. We owe it to her, to Malta and to all of us.

International organisations also amplified the national call for truth and justice. Representatives of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) gathered in nine cities—Berlin, Brasilia, Brussels, London, Paris, Stockholm, Taipei, Washington DC, and Zurich—in memory and solidarity.

“With criminal proceedings continuing against three suspects and reform still needed to implement the recommendations of the landmark public inquiry, sustained international attention remains vital,” the organisation said.

In London, RSF was joined by representatives of Article 19, English PEN, Index on Censorship, and the Maltese community, among other supporters. In Brussels, RSF’s representative gathered with members of the Media Freedom Rapid Response network.

“Seven years have passed since her assassination, but Daphne Caruana Galizia remains a highly emblematic figure, representing the courage of investigative journalists and the risks they take in doing their jobs in the public interest. Her murder marked a bleak moment for press freedom and the safety of journalists and cast a shadow throughout Europe and beyond. As we have been since the very beginning, we’re still here, still closely following the criminal proceedings, and still campaigning for much-needed reform in Malta,” RSF said.

To mark the 7th anniversary of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder in Malta, RSF representatives gathered today in memory and solidarity in 9 cities around the world, including our Paris headquarters, pictured here.

Photos from each city in the below pic.twitter.com/4ntVoUTZWC

— RSF (@RSF_inter) October 16, 2024

Eleven international NGOs also sent a joint letter to Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela, urging him to recommit to creating an enabling environment for Maltese journalists by fully implementing the recommendations of the public inquiry into Caruana Galizia’s assassination that concluded in July 2021.

The organisations included ARTICLE 19 Europe, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the International Press Institute (IPI), Media Diversity Institute, OBC Transeuropa (OBCT), PEN International, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Society of Journalists, Warsaw and Transparency International EU.

“To mark the anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, we hope that you can recommit to fully implement the recommendations from the public inquiry and guarantee that pending legislative measures will, at minimum, meet international standards, and reforms will be conducted transparently and with the technical assistance of international media experts and the full participation of civil society,” the organisations said.

The Nationalist Party said in a statement that it was scandalous that the government continued to sustain the same climate of impunity that enabled the assassination of Caruana Galizia. The Opposition recalled what the three judges who conducted the inquiry into her murder clearly stated in their report:

“The Board is satisfied, and all the indicators point in this direction, that although the exact motive has not yet been established, there is nothing to suggest that the assassination did not occur as a direct result of Mrs Caruana Galizia’s investigations into serious allegations of mismanagement of public administration, abuse of power, and corruption, in a backdrop of close and questionable links between politics, big business, and organised crime.”

In light of all this, the Opposition insisted that the government must:

• Immediately implement the recommendations of the public inquiry, which found the government guilty of creating a climate of impunity that led to the murder of a journalist,
• Publish the White Paper on the necessary reforms to Malta’s media and information laws, which has been promised for over a year,
• Withdraw and cancel the justice minister’s plans to reintroduce criminal libel laws, allowing journalists and those expressing themselves to be imprisoned.