Malta Archives

Malta: Three charged with killing journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

December 6, 2017 By administrator

Prosecutors have charged three men with murder for the car bomb killing of a Maltese journalist. The anti-corruption blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed while driving near her home on October 16.

Prosecutors have charged three men with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Maltese media reported on Tuesday. The 53-year-old journalist died when a bomb tore through her car on October 16 — a killing that shook the EU’s smallest member state and raised Europe-wide concerns about the rule of law in the Mediterranean island country.

Under tight security in Valletta, the suspects, Vince Muscat and brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio — all of whom have criminal records — pleaded not guilty to charges that include the possession of bomb-making material and weapons. Police did not immediately make clear whether they believed that the men had acted under contract to carry out the murder or plotted it on their own.

The court remanded the three accused, arrested along with seven others on Monday morning, in custody. The magistrate upheld a request to freeze their assets as well. Authorities did not immediately make clear the fate of the other seven men held.

Caruana Galizia had written a popular investigative blog that accused some of Malta’s most prominent figures — right up to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, not a relative of the accused Vincent Muscat’s — of graft.

mkg/se (Reuters, dpa, AP)

Malta arrests 10 over slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

December 4, 2017 By administrator

slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

The military and police have detained 10 suspects over the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Galizia, whose work extensively covered corruption by the ruling elite in Malta, died in a car bomb attack in October.

Authorities in Malta announced on Monday that they had made 10 arrests in connection with the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Galizia, who was known for her dogged pursuit of corrupt politicians, was killed in a car bomb attack on October 16.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, himself a target of Galizia’s pen along with his inner circle, said that the military and police had detained the suspects after a weeks-long investigation.

All of the suspects are Maltese nationals, Muscat said. Investigators now have 48 hours to seek charges against them.

Galizia’s death prompted a series of demonstrations on the island, with many on the island nation criticizing the ruling class for not doing enough to catch her killers.

EU talks scheduled

A delegation of EU lawmakers who visited Malta on a fact-finding mission on Friday announced that the bloc plans to hold talks with the Maltese government on the rule of law.

“The brutal assassination of … Galizia was aimed at instilling fear in everyone, especially those involved in investigating and prosecuting cases of money laundering and corruption,” said the head of the six-person delegation, MEP Ana Gomes.

The 53-year-old journalist ran a popular blog cataloging her investigations called “Running Commentary.” Amongst other scandals, she discovered revelations buried in the Panama Papers that implicated Prime Minister Muscat’s minister of tourism, chief of staff and wife in corruption and fraud.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/malta-arrests-10-over-slain-journalist-daphne-caruana-galizia/a-41639910

The Malta-Azerbaijan connection, Malta demands justice for slain reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia

October 22, 2017 By administrator

In a national outpouring of grief of shock, thousands took to the streets to commemorate anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Galizia was killed in a car bombing and the perpetrators remain unknown.

Thousands of people packed the streets of Malta’s capital Valletta on Sunday to demand action over the murder of journalist and anti-corruption blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Carrying banners reading “Journalists will not be reduced to silence” and “We are not afraid,” protesters converged on City Gate to commemorate the 53-year-old, who has been described as a “one-woman Wikileaks” for her dogged reporting on political dirty dealing, including alleged financial corruption by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s inner circle, using evidence in the Panama Papers.

While Muscat has described Galizia as his “biggest adversary,” he has noted that she went after his opposition rivals as well.

Galizia was killed in a car bombing last Monday, prompting shock and outrage across the island nation.

While a government statement on Saturday promised that “justice must be done, whatever the cost,” for many demonstrators, it is the government who was at fault for the tragedy.

“The authorities have blood on their hands. We can’t keep on living in a country like this,” one protester told French news agency AFP. Another accused politicians of shedding “crocodile tears” over her death.

Maltese politics are a notoriously tangled affair – with the ruling Labour Party and the center-right Nationalists locked in a long-standing stalemate. Party allegiance is often a matter of family ties, and internal one-upmanship is said to be more important than respecting political institutions.

Malta blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia killed in car bomb attack

October 17, 2017 By administrator

Galizia’s alleged that the prime minister and his wife funneled payments from Azerbaijan to offshore accounts

Galizia’s alleged that the prime minister and his wife funneled payments from Azerbaijan to offshore accounts

Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist who linked Maltese Prime Minister Muscat to the Panama Papers scandal, has died after a bomb destroyed her car. The PM has pledged to find those behind the killing.

One of Malta’s most renowned investigative journalists was killed Monday when a bomb exploded in her car just after she had left her home. Daphne Caruana Galizia ran a popular blog that exposed high-level corruption, including those at the very top.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Monday that he would “leave no stone unturned” in the search for the person or people behind the attack that killed one of his most outspoken critics.

Local television reported that Caruana Galizia, who had exposed links between Malta and information contained in the so-called Panama Papers, had filed a complaint to police earlier this month about threats she had received.

Among other things, she had alleged that Muscat’s wife, Michelle, as well as his energy minister and the government’s chief of staff, had held companies in Panama. Both Muscat and his wife deny the allegations.

In the final entry on her blog, posted within an hour of her death, Caruana Galizia repeated an allegation that the chief of staff, Keith Schembri, was using his influence for self-enrichment.

The crime has shocked Malta, which has a low crime rate. A vigil was planned later on Monday.

‘Barbaric act’

Adressing the press shortly after the incident, Muscat said he would not rest before justice was done.

“Everyone knows Ms. Caruana Galizia was a harsh critic of mine, both politically and personally, but nobody can justify this barbaric act in any way,” he said.

Her death comes four months after Muscat’s Labour Party won a resounding victory in snap elections called in part because of scandals for which her revelations were key.

Opposition leader Adrian Delia called the killing a “political murder,” and said it was reflective of “the total collapse of rule of law in our country.”

The US newspaper Politico in 2017 named Caruana Galizia as one of the 28 people who are “shaping, shaking and stirring” Europe.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/malta-blogger-daphne-caruana-galizia-killed-in-car-bomb-attack/a-40977557