Justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia still elusive, nearly five years on

October will mark the fifth anniversary of the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed by a car bomb close to her home in Malta. Despite international outrage and the conviction of one of the men who planted the bomb, those responsible for ordering the killing remain at large

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination has been the subject of intense interest from civil society and the European institutions over the past five years. The consequences have made abundantly clear the prevalent corruption that Daphne dedicated her life to exposing. But, given the intense international interest, the question still stands: what is taking Malta so long to bring those responsible to justice?

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, a champion of media freedom from Malta, was part of a seven member delegation sent to the island in December 2019. A recent mission from EU's chief prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi – formerly Romania’s top prosecutor and no stranger to corruption cases - found that Maltese authorities were reluctant to accept responsibility for investigating corruption.

Dutch Member of the European Parliament Sophie in 't Veld, who led the 2019 delegation, told Blueprint for Free Speech that “There was a willingness to investigate but that has changed. When it comes to the actual murder cases the trials are ongoing but the capacity of the judiciary is very limited.

“We have expressed our dismay over why it is taking so long. The murder cases are advancing. What is not is the cases of investigating financial wrongdoing. The question is, if it is a lack of political will, but it's too slow.”

In 't Veld has previously said that, beyond convicting the three men believed to be following orders, progress in the investigation was “excruciatingly slow and half-hearted,” although the European Parliament has no authority to direct a member state to do anything.

The European Parliament is not the only institution to have expressed criticism. In July 2021 an independent inquiry found that the state Maltese state bore some responsibility for the murder for creating a "culture of impunity" that protected corrupt officials. The 437-page report, conducted by a team of former judges, concluded that Malta’s government “failed to recognize the real and immediate risks” to the investigative journalist’s life and “failed to take reasonable steps to avoid them."

Prosecutors believe that businessman Yorgen Fenech, who had close ties with senior government officials, was the man who masterminded the murder. In late 2019, Fenech was arrested and indicted in Malta, accused of complicity in the murder, but there has been little movement in the case since then.

Three men suspected of setting off the bomb were arrested in December 2017. One pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain and is serving a 15-year jail term. The other two are awaiting trial. A self-confessed middle man turned state witness and was granted a Presidential pardon.

After the murder, then-Premier Joseph Muscat promised to "leave no stone unturned" to find out who was responsible, but his actions fell well short, failing to take action against two of his top aides who were linked the case and said to have business and underworld links. After Fenech’s arrest Chief of Staff Keith Schembri was forced to step down but but progress in the case from that point has been agonizingly slow.

In’t Veld said she was “shocked” about the lack of progress and that “without justice, trust and reconciliation cannot take place.” The culture of impunity in Malta appeared to still be in place:

“Ending that culture is crucial and requires wholehearted and cross-party support,” she said, adding that the delegation of EU lawmakers MEPs “had a feeling that a sense of urgency has been lost.”

She told Blueprint that some officials on the tiny island are trying to move the case forward, though the affair has been hugely damaging to Malta’s reputation abroad.

“They are also trying to reform the procedures that now are dragged out and trying to shorten them, but when it comes to investigating and prosecuting there are still concerns,” she said.

She noted the frustration that the mission of Laura Codruţa Kövesi,head of the new European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) had also failed to make progress. Kövesi told European lawmakers in April that authorities on the island seemed to be going through the motions, pretending to work on the case, but fundamentally uninterested in rooting out the kind of fraud and corruption Caruana Galizia had been probing.

In 't Veld told Blueprint that “The EPPO said the power to trigger an investigation is still fairly scattered - everybody can prosecute but no one will.”