Malta must conduct swift investigation into killing of journalist

16 Oct 17 | Europe and Central Asia, Malta, media freedom featured, Statements

Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia

Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed on Monday afternoon 16 October when her car exploded shortly after she left her house.

“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 was recently threatened according to TVM.

Galizia was sued in March 2017 by a property developer who filed 19 libel cases against her. In February 2017, economic minister Chris Cardona and his EU presidency policy officer Joseph Gerada filed four libel suits against the journalist.

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.

Malta bans Irvine Welsh novel

18 May 10 | Index Index, minipost

A book by the Scottish author Irvine Welsh has been banned in Malta. The University of Malta has taken Walsh’s novel Porno off its library shelves. Malta’s censorship laws state that “obscene or pornographic” literature should not be available to the public and the country’s classification board must approve all literature. Porno, a sequel to the Walsh’s best-selling Trainspotting, features characters involved in the porn industry.