London — A public inquiry into the assassination of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has found that the state should be held responsible for her death. Galizia was 53 years old when she was killed by a car bomb in Malta in 2017.
The Maltese government “created an atmosphere of impunity, generated from the highest echelons of the administration,” a report published by the inquiry said. The report said the inquiry didn’t find proof of the government’s direct involvement in Galizia’s murder, but that it created a “favorable climate” for the journalist to be killed.
Galizia, who was called a “one-woman Wikileaks,” had reported on allegations of money laundering, bribery and corruption in Malta for 30 years. She relentlessly pursued politicians in her home country on her blog, Running Commentary.
“She knew that the powerful people that she was writing about were closing in on her,” Galizia’s son Paul told 60 Minutes in 2018. “They were using every possible means to shut her down. She knew that, and that frightened her deeply.”
Galizia’s family had long called for an independent investigation into her killing, and a public inquiry began in 2019. Over the last two years, it heard from dozens of witnesses.
“It’s been like one long day since we started hammering out Malta’s first public inquiry,” Paul said Thursday.
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