VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) has called for urgent judicial and legal reforms in Malta, warning that the failure to secure full accountability for journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s 2017 assassination risks creating a culture of impunity.
In a statement, CJA Executive Committee member William Horsley welcomed calls by British parliamentarian Baroness Shami Chakrabarti for stronger safeguards within Malta’s justice system.
Chakrabarti, who is leading a Council of Europe inquiry into the implementation of recommendations following the murder, described businessman Yorgen Fenech’s acquittal on 2 September as “staggering”.
Fenech was acquitted by a jury of charges relating to financing and instigating the assassination, although several othersinvolved in the murder have been convicted.
The CJA recalled that Malta’s independent public inquiry found the State responsible for creating a climate of impunity and failing to adequately protect Caruana Galizia. It said several recommended reforms remained unimplemented.
The association is urging Commonwealth leaders to address the issue at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled for 1 to 4 November in Antigua and Barbuda.
It also raised concerns over Malta’s chairmanship of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which oversees serious violations of the organisation’s democratic principles, amid renewed international scrutiny of the country’s judicial accountability.
-Foto IPA Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
