TMID Editorial: Verdict leaves Malta under the international microscope, again

The jury verdict which led to the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech on charges of complicity and conspiracy in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia last week has left Malta under the international microscope again.

The near-enough unanimous verdict left not just those locally stunned and in shock, but it also raised eyebrows and caused even more shock abroad.  The verdict and its aftermath featured on the front pages of several international newspapers, and made the news worldwide via international press who were actually in Valletta on the day that the not guilty verdict was read out.

It has now also piqued the attention of the highest European institutions. 

The European Parliament’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group announced on Thursday that it has decided to increase its scrutiny of Malta and organise a fact-finding mission to Malta in light of the most recent developments in the case.

A European Parliament statement made it clear why the scrutiny had been upped: “The decision follows the acquittal of Yorgen Fenech and the grave concerns it has raised in Malta and across Europe.”

This Monitoring Group was first set up following the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia and of Ján Kuciak in Slovakia. Its work covers threats to the rule of law, press freedom and the fight against corruption in EU Member States.

Instead of closing the chapter on this macabre murder which thrust Malta into the international spotlight for all the wrong reasons nine years ago, in many ways the country is now back at square one.

One can argue that the hitmen and the people who built and supplied the bomb are now in prison serving lengthy prison sentences, and that is certainly true and has merit – but the fact is that full justice has not been achieved, and may indeed never now be achieved.

A lot of work has been done to try and improve Malta’s reputation abroad, and in many ways Malta’s standing in the international sphere has improved particularly after being entrusted with leading or chairing several high-profile international organisations.

Unfortunately that work risks now being undone.

The European Parliament’s fact-finding mission will no doubt, for instance, see that the recommendations put forward by the public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death remain by and large unimplemented.

They will question, like this newspaper has in the last few days, why exactly these recommendations remain unimplemented.

The inevitable arguments will come against this mission and this increased scrutiny: Europe has no right to tell Malta what to do and not to do; Europe should look at the misgivings of other countries, not just Malta; and – the crowd favourite – this is all an attack against Malta mounted by so-called extremists in cahoots with civil society and the Opposition.

None of this removes anything from the situation that Malta and its reputation now finds itself in internationally: if it wasn’t already, this case is now most definitely a permanent stain on Malta’s international reputation. 

Speak to most foreigners and tell them you are from Malta, and the first thing they will remember is that you’re from the country where a journalist was killed in a car bomb.

So Malta already had the reputation of being the one where journalists are blown up.  Now, Malta will have the reputation of being the one where journalists are blown up, and where those who order it can get away with it.

RSS Feed Source: Independent Malta TMID Editorial: Verdict leaves Malta under the international microscope, again