[WATCH] Bernard Grech: The search for truth and justice lives on

Nationalist leader Bernard Grech said that one could “kill and bury” a person, but one cannot erase her writings.

Grech paid tribute to the late journalist when speaking in Mosta on Sunday, saying the conviction of the Degiorgio brothers on Friday did not mean the end to the search for truth and justice on the assassination.

Five years ago, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered in a car bomb outside her Bidnija home.

The two men accused of being the triggermen in the fatal 2017 car bombing pleaded guilty last Friday, nine hours into the start of their murder trial, just two days short of the fifth-year anniversary of the assassination.

George Degiorgio, 58, known as iċ-Ċiniż and his brother Alfred Degiorgio, 56, known as il-Fulu, pleaded guilty shortly after the midday break at 3pm, reversing their earlier plea of not guilty.

They were sentenced to a 40-year prison sentence, after their lawyers consulted the Attorney General.

Grech said that he had frequently received advice to stop mentioning Caruana Galizia, over fears it would harm him politically.

“That’s what they want us to do: to stop mentioning Daphne.  But the more they want us not to mention her, the more we need to keep mentioning her and her work because she died for you,” he said.

He mentioned Friday’s court proceedings, insisting the search for truth and justice lives on.

“This was another step forward: one which happened because there were a lot of people who worked on a legal level and at an activist level, but also because there is a PN which is determined to keep uncovering the truth,” he said.

Grech stated that failing to uncover the truth will not allow the country to heal.

He mentioned the proposed media reform bills, which have been frozen at First Reading, after government agreed to open up a consultation process.

The Prime Minister made the commitment not to move forward with the parliamentary process beyond the First Reading stage and has asked the Experts Committee to open a consultation process on the proposed Bills.

Grech said that government must withdraw the Bills altogether, saying it has learnt “nothing” from Caruana Galizia’s assassination.

“They silenced Daphne by killing her, and now they are going to try and silence other journalists by implementing laws which will keep them quiet,” he said.

PN is not dormant

The PN leader also had some stern words for those who he said were damaging the PN “from both outside and within the party.”

“If we are going to work to weaken our party – and this goes for both those working in the party and those outside of it who undermine it even through their reporting, for instance… remember that when you weaken the PN, the only party in Parliament which can stop the oppression of Robert Abela’s government, you are weakening the country,” he said.

The comments come after an online comment on social media by his predecessor Adrian Delia, after Grech was asked about the state of infighting within the PN today, compared to previous years.

“I think the PN is much better in this aspect than it was two and a half years ago. You know what the PN was passing through,” Grech said, referring to the infighting and resignations that occurred under Delia’s tenure.

Delia took aim at the statement, saying: “More than anything, this is disrespectful to the party’s councillors and their vote.”

“Though I really was betrayed, as Grech likes to remind us… I remained loyal to the party,” he said.

He played down claims the PN was doing nothing, mentioning a number of initiatives the party had taken over the past months, including a consultation on media reform, calls for an investigation into the alleged scandal of the Marsa junction project and the increased in cost of living.

He also announced the party will be releasing it pre-budget document which was the result of work carried out by a team headed by MP Jerome Caruana Cilia.