The stories people wanted to hide will not be hidden
The shockwaves caused by the murder of investigative Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia continue to be felt strongly across the world. No more strongly than by her bereaved family, who continue to fight for an independent and thorough investigation into their mother’s death.
Caruana Galizia was a prominent investigative journalist in Malta, known for her exposés on cases of high-level corruption. Her most recent work accused Joseph Muscat, Malta’s Prime Minister, and two of his aides, of involvement in illegal deals concerning the sale of Maltese passports in exchange for payments from the government of Azerbaijan.
On 16 October 2017, Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed when her car was destroyed by an explosion so powerful it flung the Peugeot into a field nearby. International media and press freedom NGOs were shocked, immediately condemned the attack, and started ongoing campaigns to make sure the perpetrators are held accountable.
In the aftermath of her murder, Prime Minister Muscat announced he would leave no stone unturned in revealing the true identity of the killers. The Maltese investigation would involve Europol, the FBI and the National Investigations Bureau of Finland.
In stark contrast to Muscat’s response, Daphne’s son Matthew said:
“My mother was assassinated because she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it, like many strong journalists.”
He continued: “A few hours later, while that clown of a Prime Minister was making statements to parliament about a journalist he spent over a decade demonising and harassing, one of the police sergeants who is supposed to be investigating her murder, Ramon Mifsud, posted on Facebook, “Everyone gets what they deserve, cow dung! Feeling happy :)”’
The Caruana Galizia family’s frustration and scepticism, understandably directed at the Maltese government, continues nearly 8 months later. It now seems clear that their mother was scapegoated by the government. Consequently, at the time of her death, there were almost 50 lawsuits against Caruana Galizia. Despite her assassination, 34 lawsuits remain lodged against her estate.
Investigation:
In December 2017, three men were arrested on suspicion of detonating the bomb that killed Caruana Galizia, and were identified through telephone intercepts. All have pleaded not guilty. Despite the Maltese government pledging they will pursue the investigation to its end, questions over the conduct of the investigation have continually arisen.
The Caruana Galizia family has filed a legal complaint against the Maltese police force alleging that the investigation has not been impartial or nonpartisan, due to intimate connections between senior police figures and government ministers. The family have also regularly been on the receiving end of intimidation, threats and lies. Though, the Maltese government have so far denied these allegations.
All three of Caruana Galizia’s sons, now living outside of Malta for security reasons, continue to highlight the case to international audiences.
Paul Caruana Galizia stated: ‘It is a war. It really should not be like this, but we can’t rely on the investigation to be run properly. We just can’t sit back and think that things are moving.’
The Caruana Galizia’s believe that external foreign agents have taken control over Malta, and are now effectively the decision-makers.
‘A term that really defines what our mother learned about Malta is state capture,’ says Andrew Caruana Galizia. ‘This is what all these stories led to. It led to the conclusion that Malta is a captured state, its institutions are captured.’
Reflecting the Caruana Galizia’s level of distrust in the Maltese state’s investigation, the family handed their mother’s three hard drives and two laptops to German police on 27 April 2018. Daphne’s son Matthew said he would rather burn the laptops than give them to the Maltese police.
The family’s suspicions are shared by international press freedom NGOs, and the Council of Europe. In a significant development, the Council of Europe appointed a special rapporteur to examine the murder investigation. Malta is the first ever EU member state to be subjected to this measure.
Daphne Project
Six months after her murder, ‘The Daphne Project’ was launched on 17 April 2018.
This project is being coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based organisation that was established just two days after the death of Daphne. Forbidden Stories aims to end the harassment and censorship of journalists by continuing the work of those who have been silenced through imprisonment and violence. Its most famous project currently is The Daphne Project.
The deputy editor of Forbidden Stories, Jules Giraudat, discussed The Daphne Project in an interview with the International Observatory of Human Rights on 31st May 2018.
‘It formed actually just a few weeks after the assassination of Daphne. Richard Laurent, the creator of Forbidden Stories, met with a network of investigative journalists. And step by step, the Guardian was in, Stephen Grey from Reuters joined, as did journalists from Le monde. In a few weeks, we were 45 journalists from 15 countries working together.
‘The idea is to send a message to the predators of the free press. If you do something to a journalist, like killing or jailing them, there will be 10, 20, 30, 40 journalists that will collaborate to finish their work and get their message out.
‘Now there are 45 journalists ready to continue her work. The stories people wanted to hide will not be hidden.’
The mantra motivating The Daphne Project:
“Even if you succeed in stopping a single messenger, you will not stop the message”
Daphne’s work ignites a message engraved on the mind of every journalist:
Integrity is the most valuable article of trade in journalism.