It’s been two months since Daphne Caruana Galizia’s brutal assassination, but accolades and tributes continue pouring in for the late Maltese journalist. 

This week, Caruana Galizia was posthumously granted an award for investigative journalism by German journalists’ organisation Reporter-Forum, and received gushing praise from renowned undercover journalist Günter Wallraff. 

“People long for truth and truthfulness, especially in times of rapidly increasing wealth for some and growing poverty for others,” he said. “This desire for truth and truthfulness was shared by Daphne Caruana Galizia with many Maltese citizens. She was popular with ordinary citizens, which is why she was so hated by large parts of the political and economic elite.”

His speech was received by a standing ovation from the several journalists and editors in the audience. 

Günter Wallraff (far left) with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s three sons at a ceremony in Berlin 

During the ceremony, news anchor Claus Kleber also announced a scholarship for the setting up of a production of a feature of Caruana Galizia’s life and work in either film or text. 

This weekend also, the regional government of Tuscany granted Caruana Galizia the Pegaus symbol of freedom award – the Italian region’s highest award. 

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s sister Corinne Vella picks up the posthumous award in Tuscany 

“Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed on the line of duty doing the most important work on behalf of all citizens: the work of a journalist, who in the spirit of freedom reveals the truth from investigations and inquiries,” Tuscan government head Eugenio Giani said. “Tuscany also thanks Daphne Caruana Galizia. Our winged horse is the symbol of the freedom Tuscany restored after twenty years of fascist authoritarianism”.

In Tuscany too, the Tuscan Association Journalists unanimously awarded Daphne Caruana Galizia their Premio Giornalisti 2017 award, a decision that was endorsed by Italy’s trade union for journalists FNSI.

Speaking at the Tuscan Council presentation, FNSI secretary-general Rafaela Lorusso highlighted the importance of Caruana Galizia’s work and said that the FNSI in collaboration with other journalists’ associations plans to hold a meeting in Malta as a sign of solidarity “and to promote, in a decisive manner, the call for justice and truth for Daphne Caruana Galizia.”

In a message to the gathering, Anthony Ballanger, secretary general of the International Federation of Journalist said:

 “I want to express our full involvement and participation after the terrible and unacceptable attack that led to the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The IFJ recalls that freedom of expression is one of the pillars of democracy and that all journalists need to be protected, everywhere and always. It is this aim that drives the IFJ’s international actions around the world. Too many journalists die every year in the exercise of their profession, but it is not possible to ever kill the message they carry, their voices, their work of informing citizens. Because quality information is a public good that no bullet or bomb can silence.”

Also this week, EU council president Donald Tusk visited Daphne Caruana Galizia’s grave during a visit to Malta and local pressure group Il-Kenniesa paid Macmillan Cancer Support to display a dazzling hologram in tribute for Caruana Galizia over London’s South Bank.  

Over in Vienna, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) invited the late journalist’s three sons Matthew, Andrew and Paul to address a conference in Vienna on the impunity on journalists’ murderers. There, they reiterated their insistence that their mother’s murder must be investigated by an international team on the grounds that there must have been some institutional complicity in her murder.

Veteran journalist Roy Greenslade has called for an independent investigation into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder

Their call was echoed this week by veteran journalist and Reporters Without Border member Prof. Roy Greenslade during an address at the British Journalism Awards. 

“I just want to finish with a word about the killing of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. You know that she died when her car was bombed on 16 October and are probably aware that three men have since been charged with her murder, while seven more are on bail,” he said. “But Reporters Without Borders maintains that an independent, international inquiry should be held into Daphne’s death.”

“Her sons, who spoke to our board recently, have good reason to suspect that there is a political aspect to the murder because Daphne was investigating corruption at the highest levels of the Maltese government. They have called for the senior investigator to be replaced. We sincerely hope everyone here will support our call for an investigation into the callous, premeditated murder of a fine journalist.”

Meanwhile in Malta, a group of people – including Caruana Galizia’s parents and sisters – visited the crime scene in Bidnija, where a banner demanding justice for the late journalist has been erected, and set up ponsiettas in the form of a question mark.

READ NEXT: New Book On Daphne Caruana Galizia Reveals The Woman Behind The Pen

Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]