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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Rally in Malta to demand justice for slain journalist

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Valletta: Hundreds gathered in Malta Tuesday demanding justice, a day after the car bomb assassination of acclaimed and controversial journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.


Caruana Galizia, a 53-year-old blogger, newspaper columnist and vocal government critic, was killed in a Monday car bombing, just metres from her home.


Crowds gathered outside Valletta’s main courts Tuesday, demanding that those responsible for the murder be brought to justice.


“I’m here out of fear, shame and anger. This country got to a place we never imagined. We have lost our moral compass. We have adopted a culture of greed, inspired by a political class which chased it. Daphne was the last woman standing trying to remind us between right and wrong,” blggger Manuel Delia said.


Michael Briguglio, former chairman of the Greens party, said he was in a state of shock.


“The fact that nobody has resigned is incredible. The fact that the police didn’t provide protection to a woman in danger, the fact that the police commissioner hasn’t given a comment, is incredible,” he said.


Dutch forensic experts arrived in Malta to investigate the scene of the bombing. They will be joined later by investigators from the FBI. Meanwhile, reacting to a news report on the state broadcaster, the police said no reports of threats against Caruana Galizia were lodged at the police station in the past two weeks.


Earlier, the son of Caruana Galizia attacked the Maltese government for allowing “a culture of impunity” to flourish.


“My mother was assassinated because she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it, like many strong journalists,” Matthew Caruana Galizia wrote on Facebook.


Caruana Galizia’s reporting in the wake of a massive document leak known as the Panama Papers — in which two Maltese cabinet members were embroiled — forced an early general election last June.


Matti Maasikas, Estonian deputy minister for EU affairs, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, called the killing “an unacceptable assault on the freedom of speech and democracy.”


“The perpetrators must be brought to justice,” he said after a meeting of EU European affairs ministers.


In Brussels, the European Commission said it was horrified by the death of Caruana Galizia in “what was seemingly a targeted attack,” and condemned it in the “strongest possible terms.”


Margaritis Schinas, the chief spokesperson for the Commission, described Caruana Galizia as “a pioneer of investigative journalismin Malta.” — dpa


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