A petition calling for a public inquiry into the death Jean Paul Sofia has hit its goal of 15,000 signatures within five days.
The petition was created by the victim's mother Isabelle Bonnici on Friday through change.org and comes ahead of a vote in parliament on Wednesday.
After reaching its original target, the petition's next goal is 25,000 signatures. It pleads for the government to appoint a public inquiry “that will look into systemic and administrative failures that led to Jean Paul's death and that most importantly will lead to changes in the system that will prevent this from happening again.”
Jean Paul Sofia, 20, was killed when a building that was under construction in Corradino collapsed last December. Five other workers were rescued but Sofia was found dead under the rubble after a 14-hour search.
Since then, Bonnici has been calling for a public inquiry and has been backed by the Nationalist Party.
Her 15,000 supporters shared their reasons for backing her call.
"I'm signing because I have children too... and because life matters," said Julie Ellul, while Harold Psaila wrote that "it could have been me or one of my sons."
"We need the truth in full, not part," Diandra Camilleri wrote, and Michelle Vella said, "We want to know what happened from scratch".
Last Thursday, the opposition put forward a motion for the appointment of such an inquiry.
However, during the debate the government moved for an amendment to remove references to a public inquiry and call instead for the current magisterial inquiry, conducted by Magistrate Marsanne Farrugia, to conclude as quickly as possible.
The opposition's attempt to amend that amendment was shot down by the Speaker on Monday, with a firey exchange that almost led to PN MP Karol Aquilina being kicked out of the chamber.
Times of Malta is informed that the magisterial inquiry is nearing its conclusion. Isabelle Bonnici has said that while she hopes that the magisterial inquiry will help bring whoever was responsible for the building collapse to justice, investigations must go beyond the incident for the whole truth and justice to prevail.
The magisterial inquiry will look into why the building collapsed, but a public inquiry is needed to look into the processes and political decisions that led the government to grant public land to developers who erected a building that collapsed “like a deck of cards”, she told Times of Malta in an interview last month.
Bonnici has said she suspects unethical political decisions could have possibly led the land to be given to irresponsible developers, and she wants politicians to be investigated as well.