Repubblika believes that this Inquiry has been exceptional when compared with the response of the State to the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. It has asked difficult questions to witness and forced the only form of proper examination of the circumstances in which Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated and the causes of the crime, how it was allowed to happen and the failings of the State in dealing properly with the matter after the fact.
In our submissions, we will attempt to address the Inquiry’s substantive terms of reference.
- We show how Joseph Muscat and people within his circle enjoyed and continue to enjoy impunity in spite of mounting evidence that should have led to proper investigations and prosecution for crimes under existing law. We cite examples such as events connected with John Dalli’s return from Brussels, the Pilatus affair, the Panama Papers and others. We argue that this level of impunity coupled with police failure to act appropriately after a string of car bombings allowed the perpetrators of their crime to believe they would not be caught.
- We show how Joseph Muscat and his circle led a campaign to dehumanise Daphne Caruana Galizia, frustrating her right to privacy, family and property, ultimately denying her the right to her very life.
- We list the failures of the State to mitigate the risks to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s life, including the effect of her isolation as a result of slander and vilification on political party media.
- We argue that the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia should be seen in the context of mafia infiltration in the fabric of Malta’s governance and society which we content is dangerously underestimated. We put forward proposals for the adoption of anti-mafia and anti-racketeering legislation and procedures. We also make recommendations with respect to legislation to address unexplained wealth, abuse of office and other gaps in our legislative framework.
- We highlight the significance of public inquiries as tools for the growth of our democracy and as a means to document and learn lessons from administrative mistakes, systemic failings or willful wrongdoing.
- We discuss how the State continues to fail to provide adequate protection to journalists and other agents of civil society that act independently in government and therefore, wrongly perceived by it as a form of opposition it should seek to suppress.
Finally, we argue that at the heart of the values we aspire to as a democracy, there should be the service of independent and critical journalism. Children should be taught to appreciate it, expect it and contribute to it as a key component of their formal education. The State must be reminded by a demanding citizenry that it must protect the independence of this democratic pillar from the intrusion, censorship, even violence of those among us who are better served by the suppression of these freedoms.
In our submissions, we recall that Repubblika was founded by individuals who came together in the wake of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. We did this because we were angry and dissatisfied with the action of, or failure to act by, the authorities before and after Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed.
Even as we demand that justice in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s case is served without any further delay, our concerns today are more profound than they were in our shock and anger on the afternoon of 16 October 2017.
We are grateful for the opportunity to document those concerns and hope that our submissions can add value to this important process.