To mark Caruana Galizia’s assassination, Repubblika organised an event for secondary school and sixth-form students to discuss democratic values.

Journalist Peppi Azzopardi was chosen to moderate the discussion, which would have taken place at St Agatha’s College, Rabat and which would have included an interview with Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew Caruana Galizia.

Repubblika extended an invitation to all sixth forms, as well as Church and independent secondary schools, and Education Minister Clifton Grima to green-light the participation of public secondary schools.

Originally scheduled for Friday, the event has since been postponed to a future date due to what Aquilina described as “unforeseen circumstances”.

Aquilina told Lovin Malta that the Church Schools Association, as well as most sixth forms – including Junior College – and Church and independent secondary schools, accepted the invitation. However, he said Grima never responded to the request.

Schools then asked parents of secondary school children to sign a consent form for their children to attend the event, which university lecturer Simon Mercieca then published.

Mercieca was critical of the event, questioning why the Church doesn’t show similar treatment to other “victims of femicide”.

“It seems that in the Church’s eyes, not everyone is considered equal in front of God,” he wrote. “May I remind you that this woman [Daphne Caruana Galizia]’s pen caused people to kill themselves. However it is clear that the Church doesn’t care about Daphne Caruana Galizia’s victims who were destroyed by her calumnies.”

Last night, Pjazza host anchor Karl Stagno Navarra also called out the event.

“This is serious,” Stagno Navarra said before sharing the consent form. “Need I say anything else? Repubblika has gone from an NGO to the PN.”

Aquilina denounced the criticism aired by Stagno Navarra and Mercieca as “cowardly and vile attacks”. 

Questioned by Lovin Malta, he said the names of heads of schools who sent out the consent forms were published in an attempt to intimidate them.

“All types of schools, including Junior College, are participating in this event but the campaign is only against Church schools so as to foment a narrative that there exists some kind of conspiracy between the Church and us,” he said.

Aquilina insisted the event would be a “non-partisan” one, focused solely on the 2017 assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a black moment in Maltese history which he said students should be educated on. 

“Would it be considered scandalous if Sicilian children attend an event to remember the assassination of Giovanni Falcone?” he asked. “However, the heads of school who agreed to collaborate in this event are being lynched and pressure is being imposed on schools and students not to attend, which is fascist.”

“Robert Abela has the power to stop them.”

Will you attend an activity to mark the five-year anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination this weekend?