WATCH: Mafia Expert’s Tribute To Caruana Galizia: ‘She Was Killed Because She Loved Her Country’
It’s been almost three months since her assassination, but tributes for late journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia keep pouring in from around the world. Last night was the turn of Italian journalist Roberto Saviano, famed for exposing the secrets of the Naples mafia in his book Gomorrah and of the international cocaine trade in is book ZeroZeroZero.
On Rai Tre last night, Saviano paid tribute to Caruana Galizia, describing her as a lone wolf on a quest to expose the filth and dirty money that has infiltrated Malta, an island which he warned has become “a centre of corruption”.
“When Daphne wrote about money and power, she ended up isolated and people accused her of damaging Malta’s name. The truth was that her journalism was driven by a love for Malta. She loved her country, which is why she got killed.”
Saviano referred to a number of Caruana Galizia’s most famous stories, including how economy minister Chris Cardona had allegedly been sighted in a German brothel while on official duty, and the allegations that the Prime Minister’s wife Michelle Muscat was the ultimate beneficiary owner of the secret Panama company Egrant.
He warned a culture of impunity was reigning in Malta and made reference to a Facebook post by Ramon Mifsud, a police sergeant who had celebrated Caruana Galizia’s death by posting ‘Everyone gets what they deserve, cow dung’ on Facebook. Mifsud has since been suspended from the police force on half pay.
“The free flow of news and opinions, tools of the trade of journalists, create more just and freer societies, the richest and most resilient societies,” Saviano said. “In other words, societies in which life is worth living. There are people who want to brush Caruana Galizia’s assassination under the carpet as soon as possible, but we have a duty not to stop until justice is truly served.”
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