Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed on 16 October 2017 when a bomb placed under her car exploded as she drove away from her home in Bidnija, in the north of the island of Malta. A specialist in investigating corruption, her work included exposés of the shady secret deals, uncovered in the Panama Papers, that show how politicians and others hide illicit wealth behind secret companies. Her allegations about government corruption led to early elections in the country last June.
Index on Censorship’s project manager for Mapping Media Freedom, Hannah Machlin, spoke with RTK, a Catholic radio station in Malta, about Caruana Galizia’s murder.
Sixteen press freedom groups have condemned the killing of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and demanded an immediate and independent investigation into her death. Read the full article
“We strongly condemn the violent killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. We urge the Maltese authorities to swiftly and thoroughly investigate the circumstances to bring the perpetrators to justice”, Hannah Machlin, project manager of Mapping Media Freedom, said.
Galizia had also conducted investigations linking Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle, to secret offshore bank accounts revealed by the Panama Papers.
“Media freedom and pluralism are fundamental rights enshrined in Article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. However, the EU has no general powers to intervene with Member States in the area of fundamental rights” European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip said when replying to a question by Maltese MEP David Casa regarding the garnishee orders imposed against journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Read the full article
