The government opted for silence on Friday when asked whether a public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia would be launched by next month, within the timeframe stipulated by the Council of Europe.

In a report on the state of the rule of law in Malta, the Council of Europe last June called on the government to set up a public inquiry within three months aimed at establishing whether the journalist’s death could have been prevented.

Times of Malta made a fresh attempt on Friday to find out whether the government would respect this call but questions sent to the Office of the Prime Minister remained unanswered.

“There is nothing to add to the previous, exhaustive, replies,” he said.

Government figures, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, have repeatedly been coy when asked about the matter, saying legal advice was being sought about holding a public inquiry in parallel with an ongoing police investigation into the murder.

One exception was Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela, who surprised foreign journalists last month when he announced the government “will abide by the timing that the Council of Europe dictated”.

When the Office of the Prime Minister was asked about the statement at the time, a spokesman said Mr Abela was merely repeating what Dr Muscat had said a few weeks earlier.

In comments the day after the publication of the CoE report, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had made no commitments on any timeframe except to say that legal advice was being sought because he did not want to be “the one responsible for a public inquiry destroying the case against the three accused”.

Last week, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici echoed those comments.