Culture Minister Agius Galea Refuses to Confirm Daphne Killed for Journalism
Culture Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea declined to confirm that Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered because of her journalistic work. His remarks follow the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech.
Minister Hedges on Motive Behind Caruana Galizia's Killing
Culture Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea has stopped short of stating that Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered because of her work as a journalist, according to Lovin Malta. Speaking to Times of Malta journalists outside Parliament, the minister insisted that people must be "very careful" before drawing such a conclusion.
The exchange took place as MPs gathered for an urgent debate following the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech on charges of complicity in Caruana Galizia's 2017 assassination.
When asked whether journalists in Malta were less safe today in light of the verdict, Agius Galea replied: "No, I don't think so."
The journalist interviewing him noted that a reporter had been killed because of her profession. The minister responded: "In truth, these are things where one has to be very careful. That is why we need to be cautious."
Agius Galea then offered an analogy involving the hypothetical murder of a doctor, adding: "I don't know exactly what happened and what didn't happen, and in truth we have to be very careful."
Pressed directly on whether Caruana Galizia had been killed because of her investigative reporting, the minister again declined to agree, pointing to Prime Minister Robert Abela's own calls for caution and noting that "it is clear that matters have not yet been concluded".
His position sits in tension with the conclusions of the independent public inquiry carried out in 2021. That inquiry found that the State bore responsibility for creating a culture of impunity that facilitated the assassination, and explicitly linked the danger Caruana Galizia faced to her investigative work exposing corruption and the ties between politicians and big business.
Asked whether it was acceptable that, nearly nine years after the killing, no one had been held responsible for ordering her assassination, Agius Galea said authorities must now determine the next steps, while condemning aggression and murder against anyone without qualification.
Fenech was acquitted by a jury just days before the minister's remarks, leaving the question of who commissioned the killing legally unresolved.
Source: Lovin Malta