‘No Country Seems To Be Free Of This Plague,’ Malta’s President Says At Inauguration Of Falcone Foundation
The Falcone Foundation Office in Malta was inaugurated yesterday evening with a speech from Maltese President Myriam Spiteri Debono.
This is the first overseas branch of the anti-mafia group and former Repubblika president Robert Aquilina will act as the foundation’s local representative.
Aquilina noted several similarities between the assassinations of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and Italian anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992, saying they faced common challenges.
The Maltese branch of this foundation intends to bring about a positive cultural change, as it did in Italy, Aquilina explained. However, he admitted that such a change does not happen overnight and noted that the foundation is supported by the Italian state.
Aquilina hopes to replicate this collaboration with the Maltese state.
Malta’s President delivered a powerful speech during the inauguration, quoting Daphne’s last words online: ‘The situation is desperate; there are crooks everywhere’.
She called it a cry for something to be done but instead of receiving support, paid the ultimate price like Falcone and Borsellino.
Spiteri Debono went on to list a number of journalists killed across Europe, admitting that “No country, not even Western democracies, not even the European Union member states seem to be free of this plague, and organised crime emerges as another issue which gives rise to gagging of those who seek to expose it.”
“Daphne’s assassination hit Malta hard. It was a clarion call for civilians to wake up. The tools of democracy were set in motion. However, if their recommendations are not implemented, they are a dead letter.”
Featured image: Robert Aquilina’s Facebook.
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