Civil society activists are to protest on Monday to renew their call for justice with Daphne Caruana Galizia, her family and the country.

The protest, which will be held in front of parliament at 5pm, is being organised by civil society groups Repubblika, and Occupy Justice together with blogger and columnist Manuel Delia.

Activists say the prime minister appears very keen to declare the case closed and was using the guilty plea filed by one of Caruana Galizia's killers as some sort of proof that the rule of law was functioning well in Malta. 

A few years in jail for one of the murderers was no justice with a woman killed for her service to the country, they said. It was not even a beginning to heal the country’s wounds and did not mean that the country’s institutions are working.

In their statement announcing the protest, activists said the murder plot had been intended to benefit the “mafia octopus” that had strangled Malta and noted that despite Robert Abela’s “self-praise”, nothing had yet been done about many strands of corruption.

The activist groups listed a series of events which they said had not yet been tackled, noting that owners of the Electrogas power station were still profiting from its “blood-stained, corrupt contract” and that nothing had been done about revelations that a company owned by prime murder suspect Yorgen Fenech was to send €5,000 a day to companies owned by former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi. 

They also highlighted the close relationship Abela’s predecessor, Joseph Muscat, had with Fenech, and testimony heard in court which indicated that Schembri and former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar had sought to meddle in the case. 

No action was taken about Schembri’s attempt, with the help of Adrian Vella, to persuade Fenech to blame former minister Chris Cardona for the murder, the activists said. 

The Prime Minister was still trying to deny the fact that two state witnesses had said that Cardona was also involved.

The developments had come to this stage, they said, only due to the efforts of a civil society that was determined that truth should prevail.

People attending Monday’s protest, they said, should take all measures against the spread of COVID-19 and adhere to social distancing guidelines.