Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in Malta in October 2017. Paul Caruana Galizia described his mother, the first woman in the country to have written a political column, as a powerful, politically active, feminist.
At the time of her death, Daphne was investigating political corruption at the highest levels, particularly the Panama papers and, as BBC’s Europe Editor Katya Adler noted, whether Malta’s cash for passports scheme is a backdoor to getting dirty Russian money into the EU.
“Criticism of the government in Malta has become a very dangerous thing,” Journalist Caroline Muscat said. She described Daphne’s death as the “culmination of all that is wrong with the system” and called the Maltese government a “bigger generator of fake news” than any of the country’s other news platforms. Paul said his mother was a significant oppositional force to Malta’s polarised parties and that he does not trust that the investigation of his mother’s death will be conducted properly.
Rachael Jolley, editor of Index of Censorship, stressed that the violent treatment of journalists is a serious problem across the EU. The Galizia family had faced ongoing harassment for years and are still battling 34 pending lawsuits against Daphne’s articles.
If you missed this, you might enjoy Secret Pigeon Service on Wednesday 30th May.