Marlene Farrugia: the Prime Minister is ultimately politically responsible for Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder took place under Joseph Muscat’s watch, Democratic Party MP Marlene Farrugia said, and it is he who had to ultimately take political responsibility for allowing the political climate of the country to lead to the assassination of journalist. Marlene Farrugia said today, and it mattered not what the institutions of the country decided.

As one of the opposition MPs speaking about last week’s murder in parliament this evening, Farrugia said that the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General had to obey their superiors, and it is the person at the very top who had to assume responsibility for what happened.

The current events and political situation have lead to the eyes of the world falling on Malta, she maintained. If our reputation is to be safeguarded, and the damage done to it stopped, resignations have to take place, as would happen in civilised European countries, she added.

She noted that statistics published today showed that investors’ trust in Malta was decreasing. After all the work done to build a solid reputation for our country, this was a tragedy, she claimed, especially since Malta had in the past managed to maintain a solid reputation despite having gone through two financial crises and the trouble which came with the Libyan revolution.

Linking what had to be discussed in parliament today - social issues - with Caruana Galizia’s murder, she said that the well-being of society depended on economic performance, and this in turn depended on the country having a positive reputation which allowed investors to have faith in investing there. It was thus essential that Malta’s good name be restored.

“This could have been avoided had we not let our institutions be eroded,” she said.

Nationalist MP Clyde Puli emphasised the importance of defending free speech, and maintained that there was no point in giving people civil liberties if their most basic rights, such as the right to life and the right of freedom of expression, were not safeguarded.

“Who defended these rights for Daphne Caruana Galizia,” Puli asked, “surely not the police commissioner or the institutions.”

Criminal impunity killed Caruana Galizia, he said, describing the murder as a barbaric affront to her family and an attack on the spirit of a nation, on democracy and on our most valued freedoms.

Puli’s views were echoed by Nationalist MP Maria Deguara, who said that despite being aware of the constant danger, Caruana Galizia never stopped writing, and that with her death, all her aspirations died too.

Praising Caruana Galizia’s belief in the potential of Maltese women, Deguara said that her murder was intended to stop her from writing and to instil fear in anyone who might also engage in investigative journalism.

“Our institutions have slowly eroded,” Deguara said, “it is scary when you realise the state Malta now finds itself in.”

She emphasised that journalists are only murdered in countries where the institutions do not function correctly, and that whoever carried out the act was aware of the damage it would do to the country.

“Whoever did this did it in public, without fear. I see this as meaning that who commissioned this crime feels that nobody can touch them,” she added.