The 2021 report of the public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia made several recommendations, including on the rule of law, corruption and organised crime. In the leading opinion of the late Lord Bingham (cited in the legal opinion of Bhatt Murphy Solicitors and Doughty Street Chambers, p.10), the purpose of an inquiry under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights is “(…) to ensure (…) that dangerous practices and procedures are rectified; and that those who have lost their relative may at least have the satisfaction of knowing that lessons learned from his death may save the lives of others.”
Article 2 of the Convention places a positive and substantive obligation on member States to take steps to safeguard life and includes the expectation that the State will act of its own motion. Yet, four years after the public inquiry report, its recommendations on rule of law, corruption and organised crime have remained largely unimplemented.
Mr Dalle
To ask the Committee of Ministers:
Does the Committee of Ministers consider it acceptable that a member State, found to bear responsibility for a journalist’s death, has failed to fully implement the inquiry’s recommendations on the rule of law, corruption and organised crime, thereby remaining in breach of its obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights?