Postpone summer recess until Caruana Galizia inquiry is established, Delia tells Muscat

Opposition leader Adrian Delia has called for parliament not to be adjourned for summer in order for it to discuss and eventually vote on a motion establishing a public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Caruana Galizia was killed using a car bomb as she was leaving her Bidnija home back in October 2017.  

In a letter to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Monday, Delia insisted that parliament should continue meeting over the summer in order to establish a public inquiry, after Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said last week that the government was committing to holding an inquiry.

A damning report about the rule of law in Malta, which also called for such an inquiry to be established, was approved by the Council of Europe (CoE) at the end of last month.

The government has so far resisted calls for a public inquiry to be launched before criminal investigations are concluded, arguing that this could interfere with the investigations.

READ MORE: Inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia murder should be apolitical, Adrian Delia says

In his letter, Delia noted that Abela’s comments came “weeks and months” after the publication of a report by the CoE’s Venice Commission as well as its parliamentary assembly, as well as a number of calls by the “Caruana Galizia family, civil society and the Opposition”.

Delia also recalled that the Opposition had presented a parliamentary motion calling for a board of inquiry, independent of the police and the government to be set up and determine whether authorities knew or should have known of the real and immediate risk to the journalist’s life. The motion also called for the board to determine whether the measures taken by authorities to protect Caruana Galizia were adequate.

“Despite the Opposition’s willingness and goodwill, the government chose to amend this motion in a way that prevented a public inquiry from being set up and instead chose to get caught up in self-praise and to postpone this necessary step,” Delia said.

READ MORE: Council of Europe report is condemnation of government’s culture of impunity - Adrian Delia

He said that the Opposition believed the government to be going against the national interest and was persisting in breaching the Caruana Galizia family’s fundamental rights.

“It is for this reason that I am writing to you once again to emphasise the urgent need for a public and independent inquiry to be established,” he added. “It is in the national interest for all the facts to be collected, registered and analysed. Because there is a need for the whole truth to be established.”

He said the Opposition was ready to work through the summer to establish the inquiry.