The European Parliament (EP) paid tribute to investigative journalists Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak on Tuesday during the unveiling of a work of art created in their honour.
Entitled 'Immortal Truth', the exhibition features an art installation, a pillar in which the words 'truth' and 'immortal' are encased and which will be on exhibit permanently.
"The most visible word is 'immortal' and it represents some sort of cover or wall," said the Slovak artist, Martin Mjarten, who authored the artwork.
"And within is 'truth', a word that is not so visible because truth often needs to be discovered or revealed to the public," he continued.
The exhibition is being held at the EP's Brussels building.
Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder on October 16, 2017 sparked great political turmoil which led to the resignation of the Prime Minister and other influential politicians.
The shooting of Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova in Slovakia, months later in February 2018 also fuelled big civil protests in Slovakia that drew comparisons to those of the Velvet Revolution in 1989.
The two families of the assassinated journalists met at the exhibition for the first time today in a union described as 'emotional' by MEP David Casa, who organised the exhibition together with Slovak MEP Lucia Duris Nicholsonova.
The inauguration was held in the presence of relatives of Ms Caruana Galizia and Mr Kuciak, as well as European Commission vice-president Vera Jourova and EP vice-president Mairead McGuinness.
Both families addressed the audience to denounce the rampant corruption, impunity, and lack of protection in their respective countries that led to the three brutal assassinations.
"If the police and the prosecutor did their job well, the senseless murder of my daughter and could have been avoided," said Martina Kusnirova's mother, Zlata Kusnirova.
"Dear MEPs please don't close your eyes to democracy bleeding in the very heart of Europe," she pleaded.
Ms Jourova said that she would be doing everything she could to ensure justice would be served in both cases, and to ensure the future protection of journalists.
She said she was reassured the European Prosecutor's Office which will start operating this year to tackle large cross border crime against the EU budget would be paying strong attention to the cases of the two slain journalists.
In addition, she would be looking into abusive litigation that Ms Caruana Galizia's family is still facing.
This would possibly involve adapting international private law and possibly providing some legal aid to better protect journalists, she explained.
She also said she would be looking at a report, to be concluded in March, regarding the situation of journalists in EU states and acting upon it.
"The recent findings show that Daphne Caruana Galizia was right so she is still working for us."
"After she was assassinated she is doing more for truth, democracy and freedom than some of us that are alive."
Mr Casa announced the Daphne Caruana prize which will be awarded to investigative journalists in Malta for their work each year.
He insisted that justice in Ms Caruana Galizia's murder as well as in the investigations was still being prevented from running its course.
“Politicians complicit with the accused's murderers are still on the loose. We will not rest until they are brought to justice, until there is real change,” he said.