15/10/2020 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Another year has passed, the third, and still there is no justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia,” declared Pieter Omtzigt, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly’s (PACE) rapporteur for follow-up to Resolution 2293 (2019) on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination and the rule of law in Malta, in a statement to mark the third anniversary of her death.
“Even though three suspected triggermen were charged almost three years ago, even though the intermediary confessed almost a year ago, the trial of those accused of Daphne’s murder has still not begun. The pre-trial ‘compilation of evidence’, which began in 2017, splutters on sporadically, mired in confusion, with no end in sight.”
“Although magisterial inquiries into Daphne’s reports on high-level corruption continue to lead nowhere after 3.5 years, the Prime Minister is trying to shut down the independent public inquiry into her assassination after only a year. This inquiry has made remarkable progress in casting official, public light on the wider circumstances surrounding her death. It must be allowed to fulfil its broad and inclusive mandate.”
“My thoughts are with Daphne’s family on this sad day. Three years have passed but we have not forgotten and we will not forget. The fight is not over.”