‘Liberty In Malta Is Under Threat’: Repubblika Slams Robert Abela For Continuing To Protect Corruption By Endangering Journalists
Robert Abela’s government has not carried out any of the recommendations made after the Public Inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, Repubblika has stressed.
“The threats to freedom of speech which led to a journalist’s assassination are still with us,” said Repubblika.
“Malta still has no law against mafia association. We still do not have laws that make it a crime to abuse power, and to obstruct the course of justice. We still do not have powers for the courts to take wealth from the hands of those who cannot explain where they got it from.”
Repubblika is a civic organisation seeking to promote and foster an environment balancing human rights, the democratic rule of law, civic freedoms, and uninhibited participation in the national discourse.
Repubblika is marking this year’s World Press Freedoms Day – when Malta has ranked at its lowest ever in terms of press freedoms, second lowest in the EU – by issuing this deeply critical statement.
We’ve placed below Hungary – a nation currently sliding deeper into Putin-affiliated authoritarianism.
Six years after Daphne’s death – and two years after the Public Inquiry issued its recommendations – Repubblika says that Robert Abela’s government has not spoken to journalists about introducing laws to protect them.
Earlier this year, the Nationalist Party made similar claims – asserting that the PM was breaking his promise to implement the inquiry’s recommendations which they believe was “further sowing the seeds of a culture of impunity in the Maltese Islands”.
Repubblika continued: “Public broadcasting is consistently found to serve as government propaganda, but nothing is done to ensure its independence. The Government fights with all its strength to keep information it is obliged to publish hidden, and uses its expenses to reward media which praises it while punish those who criticise it.”
“There have not yet been any prosecutions against those who were identified in the Panama Papers. The owners of Electrogas, even the one who is in prison, are still profiting from that corrupt contract.”
Repubblika is concerned for the safety of journalists in Malta – as they believe journalists are canaries to our democracy’s coalmine.
Until there is a clear and concerted effort to structurally reform – or overhaul – the system which has allowed Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination to happen without real consequence, Repubblika and other civil society groups are likely to continue their campaigns to strengthen our embattled political system.
“This is an environment of serious danger for journalists and activists who – like Daphne Caruana Galizia – work every day to reveal how the few are robbing the many.”
“While we do this work we wait for the day that whoever is caught gets what they deserve – and those who work to defend freedom and truth in Malta are allowed to do their work without facing threats and fear.”
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