Repubblika and #occupyjustice together with Aditus Foundation, The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, PEN Malta, the Law Students’ Association, and Vuċi Kollettiva, call on people of good will who care about democracy to a Protest on Sunday 16 February 2025 at 4pm starting in front of the Parliament building.
The protest is being called with the aim of seeking to persuade the government to stop the discussion in Parliament on Bill No. 125 which removes the right of citizens to request magisterial inquiries. Instead, we are calling on the government to begin a serious consultation process on reforms in the judicial system to strengthen our country’s capacity to fight corruption and organised crime.
At the same time, we reiterate our agreement with some of the proposed reforms in the law that improve the rights of victims while the inquiries are ongoing.
As the Employers’ Association, the Chamber of Advocates, and the Chamber of Commerce among others have said, we cannot understand the government’s haste to impose this law without any form of public dialogue. We reject the accusation that our position is in any way extremist. In a democracy, the peaceful defense of the rights of all citizens can never be called extremist.
Our call for this protest is therefore another effort to persuade the government to listen to the detailed and technical objections being made by many and to begin effective consultation on beneficial reforms while ceasing to threaten to crush rights that all citizens currently have.
We call on citizens to raise their voices in favour of the right to seek justice and against the corruption of those in power and the intimidation of journalists.