Repubblika rejects Abela’s use of its statement to defend Malta’s institutions

NGO Repubblika rejected Prime Minister Robert Abela’s claim in an urgent parliament session which used of one of the NGO's own statements as evidence that Malta’s institutions had functioned as they should during the trial of Yorgen Fenech.

“This is not what we said,” Repubblika insisted. “And this is not what we believe.”

Opposition leader Alex Borg requested for parliament to be reconvened for an urgent debate following the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech, who faced charges for masterminding the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The NGO remarked that, after years of treating civil society with contempt, the prime minister has “suddenly discovered” that Repubblika is an authority worth citing.

“So, since the Prime Minister has chosen to cite Repubblika, we invite him to continue,” Repubblika said before calling on government to now acknowledge the entirety of its demands.

To start, Repubblika demanded for government to implement every recommendation listed in the public inquiry into the murder of Caruana Galizia, together with a published timetable and transparent monitoring.

These recommendations include reforms intended to protect journalists, a request which Repubblika noted was backed up by international institutions.

Then, it insisted that government must investigate what was exposed throughout the trial, including the evidence of leaks, interference, failures in gathering or preserving evidence, and the possible obstruction of justice by public officials or members of the police corps.

The corruption Daphne Caruana Galizia was exposing during her career as a journalist must also be investigated and prosecuted, Repubblika added, insisting that her assassination cannot be separated from the work she carried out throughout her life.

It then called on government to guarantee genuinely independent policing and prosecution. These institutions must be protected from political interference and dangerous proximity to political and economic power.

Repubblika went on by demanding that government introduce effective anti-mafia along with obstruction-of-justice laws, which together would allow the country to confront organised crime and powerful criminal interests.

Finally, it asked government to restore genuine dialogue with independent civil society networks to implement the rule-of-law reforms Malta has postponed for far too long.

Repubblika noted that the public inquiry had found the state responsible for creating a climate of impunity that facilitated the murder five years ago. It also pointed out that Robert Abela has been Prime Minister throughout those five years.

While five years have now passed, Repubblika underlined that Abela’s government has still not implemented to inquiry’s recommendations.

Repubblika also explained that, throughout these five years, it has repeatedly asked Abela to act on the inquiry’s recommendations through the Open Government process. The government, however, abandoned that process and ignored Repubblika’s appeals, the NGO claimed.

Apart from Repubblika, the European Commission, GRECO, OSCE/ODIHR, and others have also repeatedly called for reforms that remain delayed, weakened or ignored, the NGO said.

While acknowledging that Abela was not the one who murdered Caruana Galizia, and was not the one to conduct the investigation, nor was he the judge or the prosecutor in the trial against Fenech, he regardless remains the prime minister who has spent five years ignoring the recommendations of the public inquiry.

“Every recommendation left gathering dust is his political responsibility. Every international warning ignored is his political responsibility. Every reform postponed is his political responsibility,” Repubblika said. “And every further day these failures are allowed to persist adds to that responsibility.”

Repubblika said the trial revealed an investigation of “profoundly uneven quality,” exposing “disturbing” relationships between political power, economic power, and the people entrusted with enforcing the law.

The NGO referred to evidence of leaks and interference, failures in gathering and presenting evidence, and conduct which raises serious questions about whether powerful people were protected when they should have been investigated.

“These problems did not emerge this week,” it said.

Repubblika went on to insist that Malta will not emerge from this crisis through Prime Minister Robert Abela congratulating himself, but through leadership, humility, and real reform.

“The man we remain convinced commissioned that murder has walked free,” Repubblika noted. “There is nothing here for the government to congratulate itself about.”