{"id":21041,"date":"2020-10-23T11:56:55","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T08:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/?p=21041"},"modified":"2020-10-23T11:56:55","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T08:56:55","slug":"three-years-after-the-assassination-of-daphne-caruana-galizia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/three-years-after-the-assassination-of-daphne-caruana-galizia\/","title":{"rendered":"Three years after her assassination still no justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 16 October 2017 journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated in Malta. Today the AEJ adds our voice to those of international free expression, anti-corruption, civic participation, and journalists\u2019 organisations everywhere which demand justice for her appalling murder three years ago. Delays and obstructions have marked the actions of the Maltese authorities throughout this time. Impunity is completely unacceptable in a member state of the Council of Europe and the European Union. We call on those institutions to use their full authority to ensure that those repsonsible for her death are prosecuted and brought to justice. The AEJ supports the joint statement below that marks this shocking anniversary:<\/em><\/p>\n

On 16 October 2017, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated in Malta. Three years later we, the undersigned 19 international free expression, anti-corruption, civic participation, and journalists\u2019 organisations, once again demand an end to impunity for this heinous attack.<\/p>\n

As alleged murder mastermind, Yorgen Fenech, is facing criminal proceedings and the three defendants charged with carrying out the contract killing Alfred Degiorgio, George Degiorgio and Vincent Muscat, are awaiting trial, we recall that justice delayed is justice denied. We call for thorough and effective criminal investigations and prosecutions that ensure the whole truth is uncovered and all those responsible for Daphne Caruana Galizia\u2019s murder are held to account in court.<\/p>\n

Last interview with Daphne Caruana Galizia<\/a> <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We welcome the fact that a public inquiry has been established into the broader circumstances of the assassination and whether it could have been prevented, albeit only following sustained pressure and in the face of ongoing government obstruction. To date, the public inquiry has uncovered extensive failures of the state and its entities to protect the life of Daphne Caruana Galizia and a pattern of intimidation and harassment of her and her family, as well as other independent journalists, steered from the highest levels of government. For the public inquiry to be effective, the Board of Inquiry must be allowed to continue to independently fulfil its Terms of Reference. In this regard, we have been gravely concerned by Prime Minister Robert Abela\u2019s attempt to impose a time limit, unduly interfering with the fair and effective fulfilment of the Board of Inquiry\u2019s task.<\/p>\n

Daphne Caruana Galizia wrote that people suing her for libel were doing so \u201cas an intimidation strategy as they retreat under siege.\u201d It is unacceptable that three years after her death, her family must continue to fight these Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) brought against her by former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle, former Minister Konrad Mizzi and his wife Sai Mizzi Liang, the oligarch and governing party donor Silvio Debono and others.<\/p>\n

We will continue our campaigning and joint advocacy until there is full justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia. We hope that this year will be the last time that, in commemorating her, we must call for an end to impunity and the continued harassment of her family, so that we can fully focus on honouring her legacy as a fearless investigative reporter.<\/p>\n

Signed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

ARTICLE 19
\nCivil Society Europe
\nCommittee to Protect Journalists
\nEuropean Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
\nEuropean Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
\nFree Press Unlimited
\nGlobal Forum for Media Development (GFMD)
\nIFEX
\nIndex on Censorship
\nInternational Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
\nInternational Media Support (IMS)
\nInternational Press Institute (IPI)
\nJustice and Environment
\nMedia Diversity Institute (MDI)
\nOsservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)
\nPEN America
\nReporters Without Borders (RSF)
\nScottish PEN
\nTransparency International EU<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 16 October 2017 journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated in Malta. Today the AEJ adds our voice to those of international free expression, anti-corruption, civic participation, and journalists\u2019 organisations everywhere which demand justice for her appalling murder three years ago. Delays and obstructions have marked the actions of the Maltese authorities throughout this time. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[967],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-positions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}