05 Oct 18 | Events
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”100187″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]Tuesday 16 October marks one year since the brutal assassination of Malta’s best-known investigative journalist and anti-corruption campaigner, Daphne Caruana Galizia. She was killed when a car bomb detonated as she drove away from her home in Bidnija, Malta.
Although three individuals have been arrested in the murder investigation, those who ordered her killing have yet to be brought to justice. Our organisations support the Caruana Galizia family’s call for a public inquiry into her death.
To honour her bravery, and to call for justice in her case, a group of Maltese people living, studying, and working in London, together with a number of free expression and anti-corruption NGOs, are holding a candlelight vigil in the courtyard of St James’s Church opposite the Malta High Commission in London. Similar events will take place in Malta and in other European cities.
The vigil is being held in the courtyard of St. Jame’s Picadilly, across the street from the Malta High Commission.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
When: Tuesday 16 October 2018 7-8pm
Where: The courtyard of St James’s Church, Piccadilly, W1J 9LL
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19 Apr 18 | Malta, Mapping Media Freedom, Media Freedom, News and features, United Kingdom
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Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese investigative journalist who was assassinated in October 2017, had numerous lawsuits pending at the time of her murder.
Maltese libel laws are having an incredibly chilling effect on journalism and free speech, said British MP Tom Brake at a parliamentary meeting.
On the six-month anniversary of the killing of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the meeting was told that her sons are facing 34 libel cases that were originally made against their mother. Under Maltese law the cases then roll over against other members of the family and the plaintiffs can seek damages against their estate.
Daphne’s son Paul Caruana Galizia said: “We want to stop the abuse of libel law: magistrates should throw out cases that are obviously vexatious, designed only to harass journalists and restrict freedom of expression.”
He added: “I also think that plaintiffs seeking damages against dead people shouldn’t continue.
At her death Daphne Caruana Galizia faced 47 libel suits in all – five of those were dropped automatically after her death but there are still 34 pending civil cases against the family.
Daphne’s son Paul, who was speaking on 16 April 2018 about his mother’s killing from a car bomb, said: “There was three decades of relentless harassment”.
Paul and his family also face threats against them, and are having to take personal security measures.
Brake, a Liberal Democrat MP, who chaired a discussion between NGOs and the writer’s family, said he would put together another Early Day Motion to call attention to the case in the UK parliament. Brake said he would seek to meet with Maltese MPs, who are visiting Britain in the next few weeks, to highlight his worries about the case. He will also be writing to the Maltese authorities about the weaknesses in the investigation.
The MP also called the situation a “tragedy that is happening within our EU borders”.
Paul Caruana Galizia said that the response from the government in Malta had been “weak” and “ineffective” and outlined many concerns with the investigation.
He highlighted the conflict of interest in the enquiry: “We are in this difficult situation now where the people our mother investigated – the police, the government, anti-money-laundering authorities – are now in charge of the investigation into her own assassination”.
Rebecca Vincent, London director of Reporters without Borders, said: “The fact that this could happen in the EU was a wakeup call I think to many of us. But six months later, unfortunately, it’s not so shocking, this is sadly becoming a new reality”.
This also follows the death of another investigative reporter Jan Kuciak who was shot dead in Slovenia in a hitman-style shooting in February.
The Guardian has also recently reported that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s husband, Peter Caruana Galizia, believes that those behind the killing are being shielded by the Maltese government.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1524143013537-57a1643f-a0e9-4″ taxonomies=”18782″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
18 Apr 18 | Index in the Press
In London, a group of free expression, press freedom, and anti-corruption groups renewed called for full justice for the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, six months after her murder. Read the full article.
17 Apr 18 | Malta, Mapping Media Freedom, Media Freedom, News and features
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/MhT_G6fMaY8″][vc_column_text]People gathered outside Malta House in London on Monday afternoon to remember Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist murdered with a car bomb six months ago.
The vigil was attended by representatives of NGOs calling on the Maltese authorities for justice.
Index on Censorship, Reporters Without Borders, the International Press Institute and others have signed an open letter demanding the ongoing investigation into Caruana Galizia’s death to be monitored.
“It wasn’t just one person they silenced. When you silence a journalist, you attempt to silence an entire community, an entire country,” Jodie Ginsberg, Index on Censorship CEO, said.
The investigative journalist, who wrote about corruption and human rights breaches in Malta on her blog Running Commentary, had previously received threats because of her reporting. She was branded a political enemy and her face was put on billboards around the country by the governing party. She was murdered on 16 October 2017.
Many of the investigations she was pursuing before her murder are being taken up by journalists around the world who will publish the corruption she worked to expose.
Matthew and Paul Caruana Galizia, two of the journalist’s sons, who attended the vigil, emphasised the importance of ongoing support and said the event was “almost like another funeral because we’ve hit the six-month mark”.
Excerpts from Caruana Galizia’s writing were read out and sprigs of bay leaves, “Daphne” in ancient greek, were held by attendees. Chants of “Justice for Daphne, no more impunity” were directed at Malta House.
Ravi Prasad, head of advocacy at the International Press Institute in Vienna, was at the memorial. He is outraged at the government of Malta for superficially bandaging the issue instead of investigating properly.
“They have arrested some people but these are not the perpetrators, the actual masterminds behind the murder,” he said. “They’re trying to blame others. It’s a classic example of impunity. This is intolerable. Most of these journalists are not killed because they are covering a conflict. They were murdered for exposing corruption.”
The Director of Free Press Unlimited, Leon Willems, represented the Dutch free press organisation. The organisation, Willems told Index on Censorship, is “extremely concerned about the growing impunity with which attacks on journalists take place all over Europe. We think the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia is a case in point where we see that in spite of all the efforts, nothing much is happening and there are no real consequences.”
He added: “We think that is a grave danger to journalism and Europe and we are very concerned about the current trend.”
Holding vigils of this kind is faced with much opposition in Malta. A memorial to Daphne in front of the law courts in Valetta was recently removed. Tina Urso, activist at Il-Kenniesa, has helped organise six memorial services around the world for Caruana Galizia. She says the police in Malta find a way of shutting down the events and that “people are getting really scared.” But the anti-corruption activist believes that international voices are crucial in getting the attention of the authorities. She said: “When it comes to international pressure we know that it really bothers them and we know that they pay attention.”
The vigil was followed by a discussion of the case at the House of Commons on Monday evening. [/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”99687″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”99685″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1523984883608-cb153aa9-5de4-5″ taxonomies=”18782″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
