Last night, Monday 16th of October, the car of the “one-woman WikiLeaks, crusading against untransparency and corruption in Malta” Daphne Caruana Galizia exploded. Inside the car located in Bidjina, Caruana Galizia was killed. She was committed to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and was part of the Panama Papers revelations.
This journalist was fighting against corruption inside the Maltese Government, especially at its highest level. In fact, Daphne Caruana Galizia blamed the wife of the incumbent Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat – Michelle Muscat – to be involved with payments offered to and by companies she owned. These payments served as bribes and were directly aimed at the government of Azerbaijan. This controversial accusation made Ms. Caruana Galizia a popular investigator all around Europe, to the point she has been named one of the “28 people who are shaping, shaking and stirring Europe” by the newspaper Politico.
This murder has been judged by several commentators as a “political murder”, and Malta’s leader called this assassination a “black day for freedom of expression”. In order to appear completely fair and impartial in this case, the Maltese Leader has also claimed he would invite external investigators to help. He especially wishes to invite FBI detectives to ensure justice will be respected.
Many European politicians presented their condolences and indicated they were thankful for the work and values shared by Daphne Caruana Galizia.
For information, Malta is ranked at the 47th position in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders.
Jean-Hugue Baraër
For further information:
EU Observer: https://euobserver.com/beyond-brussels/139477
EU Observer: https://euobserver.com/tickers/139479
International Consortium of investigative Journalists: https://www.icij.org/blog/2017/10/investigative-malta-journalist-killed-bomb-blast/
Reporters Without Borders. 2017 World Press Freedom Index. Malta : https://rsf.org/en/malta
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/16/malta-car-bomb-kills-panama-papers-journalist
Times Of Malta : https://www.timesofmalta.com/mobile/articles/view/20171016/local/shock-outrage-and-concern-reactions-to-caruana-galizias-murder-pour-in.660580
Vice News: https://news.vice.com/story/spain-just-jailed-two-catalan-independence-leaders-on-sedition-charges
