[WATCH] Activists call on Greek Prime Minister to grant Maria Efimova political asylum

A group of activists have sent a letter to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, calling on him to grant Maria Efimova – one of the late Daphne Caruana Galizia’s sources - political asylum in Greece.

In their letter, activists from Occupy Justice, il-Kenniesa, Civil Society Network and L-Awturi, urged Tsipras to grant Efimova asylum over what they claim are justified concerns about her safety if she were to be extradited to Malta.

According to the activists, Caruana Galizia’s assassination was a “warning by her killers to her sources to no longer provide journalists and authorities with information on what they know”.

Last year, Efimova was named as one of the main sources behind claims made by the late Daphne Caruana Galizia that Michelle Muscat, wife of the Prime Minister, owns the Panamanian company Egrant. It was alleged that Egrant held an account at Pilatus Bank.

She is also the subject of at least two ongoing criminal cases, having been accused of defrauding Pilatus Bank in one case, and of making false accusations against Superintendent Denis Theuma and inspectors Jonathan Ferris and Lara Butters in another.

Two European Arrest Warrants were issued by the Maltese Courts after she repeatedly failed to turn up in court in Malta to testify in cases unrelated to Caruana Galizia’s allegations.

Efimova was known to have been living a European member state since she fled Malta but chose to surrender herself to the police in Greece last Monday. She is currently being held in prison from where she intends to fight her extradition to Malta.

The activists accused the government of mobilising a vilification campaign against Efimova, adding that while she was in hiding in Greece, “fake news stories in Malta and Cyprus” falsely alleged she was suspected of killing Caruana Galizia and more recently of attempting to kill the Skripals in the UK. 

“These outrageous and utterly baseless accusations have been propagated by officials and agents of the ruling party in Malta whose leading members have been personally implicated by the information provided by Maria Efimova in the corrupt activities conducted by Pilatus Bank.”

Both Efimova’s lawyer Alexandros Papastergiopoulous, and Greek MEP Stelios Kouloglou, who has been assisting her in Greece, told MaltaToday last week that she feared attempts were being made to link her to the Skripal case after a number of British journalists had contacted her with questions about the case.

They also said the whistle-blower had expressed fears over her safety if she were to be returned to Malta, given that whoever commissioned Caruana Galizia’s murder was yet to be brought to justice.

When asked, Papastergiopoulous said he did not see any grounds for requesting political asylum, arguing that the possibility of political asylum being granted was being propagated mainly by journalists. He said it was more likely that the arrest warrant could be legall challenged in Greece, but stressed that he had not yet seen Efimova's case file, which is yet to arrive in Greece.

In their letter however, the activists called on the Greek Prime Minister to nonetheless grant Efimova asylum, arguing that the EU was not a "club of governments, especially when one of those governments steps away from the shared values of freedom and democracy".

“In the name of those values, we appeal to you to grant Maria Efimova asylum in your country in order for the extradition process to be terminated.”