Gafà's removal of Daphne memorial is freedom of expression, Andy Ellul insists

Junior Minister Andy Ellul claimed that Neville Gafà was within his rights to remove tributes to murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia from the Great Siege Monument, describing the act as an expression of free speech.

It was the same right used by those who were placing the tributes on the public monument, he said.

“I spoke to Gafà and he assured me that what he did, he did in his personal capacity, because he believes that a public monument should not be used for that purpose. For me, his reply was satisfactory. I’d be the first to show my disapproval if what he did was intended to be disparaging towards Daphne Caruana Galizia. I believe in respecting a dead person,” he said, adding that he had recently lost his sister, Sharon Ellul Bonici, to cancer.

She was a politically active woman, he said, adding that he knew what it felt like when a person tried to be disrespectful towards someone who had passed away - so he would be the first to condemn it.

Last week, footage was published showing Gafà, a political appointee, clearing tributes to Caruana Galizia placed there, some by embassies, on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of her assassination.

A spokesperson for OPM said that this constituted “freedom of expression,” adding that this freedom applies to all. Activists condemned this reaction and expressed their disbelief, saying that the clearing was “institutionalised bullying.”

The saga has been dragging on for years. The Great Siege Monument opposite the law courts in Valletta has hosted a memorial to Caruana Galizia since her assassination in October 2017. The journalist was killed in a car bomb.

The memorial site was cleared several times by government employees acting on the orders of then-Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, until a constitutional court ruled that those orders breached protesters' rights.

Bonnici eventually said he regretted giving those orders. The memorial was left undisturbed for years until October 2024, when Gafà began placing placards of his own at the site. This escalated in April when the trial against the bomb-makers started.

The issue regained public attention last week when footage showed him removing the tributes laid there on the occasion of the anniversary.