Malta should take responsibility for the 2017 murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia as it created “an atmosphere of impunity” that risked her life, a public inquiry concluded.
The October 2017 car-bomb killing of Caruana Galizia, who exposed cronyism and sleaze within Malta’s political and business elite, sparked international outrage and protests that forced the resignation of former Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat.
A panel of three judges wrote in a 437-page report that although they had not found proof of government involvement, Muscat and his entire former cabinet should be held responsible.
Photo: Reuters
“The state should shoulder responsibility for the assassination,” said the report, which took nearly two years to compile, according to Maltese news media on Thursday.
“It created an atmosphere of impunity, generated from the highest echelons of the administration... the tentacles of which then spread to other institutions, such as the police and regulatory authorities, leading to a collapse in the rule of law”, it read, according to the Times of Malta.
Caruana Galizia, 53, has been described as a “one-woman WikiLeaks.” The blogger was known for investigating high-level corruption and contributed to the 2016 Panama Papers data leak.
Her family said the panel’s findings confirmed their belief “that her assassination was a direct result of the collapse of the rule of law and the impunity that the state provided to the corrupt network she was reporting on.”
“We hope that its findings will lead to the restoration of the rule of law in Malta, effective protection for journalists and an end to the impunity that the corrupt officials Daphne investigated continue to enjoy,” they said.
The panel found the state shirked its duty to protect Caruana Galizia and subjected her to personal attacks and verbal abuse from politicians. The atmosphere created a “favorable climate” for her assassination, and there was “convincing evidence” that her killers knew they would be protected “persons in the highest state positions.”
Muscat stepped down in January last year after widespread anger and mass protests over his perceived efforts to protect friends and allies from the investigation.
The ongoing criminal investigation has thus far charged three men over the murder, with one of them sentenced in February to 15 years in prison.
In March, Muscat’s former chief of staff, Keith Schembri, was charged with crimes including corruption, fraud and money laundering. He claims innocence.
In a lengthy statement on Facebook in reaction to the inquiry’s report, Muscat said that the swift arrest of the alleged hit men following Caruana Galizia’s murder “disproves any impression of impunity” they might have had.
He added that prior governments had acted with impunity before his term of office.
“Despite the very serious reservations on the shortcomings of the inquiry, I accept the said conclusions, as I have always done in the past out of respect for the institutions,” he said.
He said that he had “paid the ultimate political price.”
A series of recommendations by the panel include measures to increase transparency and break the cozy relationship between business and politics, as well as better protection of journalists.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number