Almost four years have passed since Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder but Malta has yet to learn many of the lessons of that crime, activists warned on Friday as they gathered to commemorate the journalist’s murder.
Addressing a news conference in front of Parliament held one day before the 4th anniversary of Caruana Galizia’s assassination, Repubblika president Robert Aquilina said Malta had to quickly change course if future generations were to live in a better country than that in which she was murdered.
Aquilina was accompanied by Orsetta Spinola, a representative of CHANCE Network – the Civil Hub Against Organised Crime in Europe.
“Today we know Daphne was not only killed by mafia, but she was killed by the mafia tentacles that seized our country. We know she was killed because she was resented by people who would do anything to protect their selfish and corrupt interests,” Aquilina said.
He said that despite the publication of the Caruana Galizia inquiry, two months on, Prime Minister Robert Abela has failed to do anything about it or its recommendations.
“We have a Prime Minister who is failing to rise up to his responsibilities towards his people and their future, instead he leaves the inquiry to gather dust on the shelf.”
"We want a Malta which is ready to learn and heal it's wounds from this tragedy," he said, as he urged people to attend a vigil that will be held on Saturday at 7.30pm in Valletta in front of the law courts..
“We appeal for all the Maltese to come to Valletta tomorrow to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the murder of Daphne.”
Orsetta Spinola on Friday Photo: Matthew Mirabelli‘Malta has a large and infected wound to heal’
Spinola said Malta must work together to heal the “large and infected wound” that was poisoning relationships between the country’s institutions, population and national dignity.
She said Malta urgently needs specific legislations addressing the threat of organised crime, as the whole European Union should.
The first step to fight organised crime is to recognise the threat, both at a social level, for citizens to understand it, and at the political and legislative level, Spinola said.
“Organised crime thrives where the fracture between the state and the citzens is deepest,” she said.
“Disregarding our political affiliation and beliefs, our background, our orgins, or even passports, we owe and deserve integrity and transparency- as residents, as citizens as institutions.”
Spinola made reference to the inaugural edition of the EU’s Daphne Caruana Galizia prize for journalism, awarded on Thursday, and the speech given by European Parliament president Davide Sassoli.
Sassoli, she said, had noted that “rights and privileges are not carved in stone: what we have achieved can be lost.
“Democracy and freedom are not to be taken for granted. We have rules and tools to monitor those in power. Fight to become better.”
She called for all to attend Saturday’s memorial, and called on the international community and also foreign residents to make an appareance to express solidarity and fight against corruption.