CPJ welcomes resolution demanding investigation into Daphne Caruana Galizia killing

Gulnoza Said
People are seen holding photos of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Valletta, Malta, on April 16, 2018. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recently passed a resolution requiring the Maltese government to launch an independent public inquiry into her killing. (AFP/Matthew Mirabelli)

People are seen holding photos of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Valletta, Malta, on April 16, 2018. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recently passed a resolution requiring the Maltese government to launch an independent public inquiry into her killing. (AFP/Matthew Mirabelli)

CPJ joined other press freedom and freedom of expression organizations today in welcoming a resolution condemning the lack of progress in determining responsibility for the October 16, 2017, car bomb killing of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The resolution, which requires the Maltese government to launch an independent public inquiry into the killing within three months, was issued yesterday by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the human rights-focused legislative arm of the 47-nation organization. It was accompanied by a report by Special Rapporteur Pieter Omtzigt, a Dutch minister of parliament who was appointed to lead the case last year, as CPJ reported at the time.

Caruana Galizia was a prominent investigative journalist and blogger who reported on alleged official corruption and ties between the Maltese and Azerbaijani governments, according to CPJ research.

The resolution passed in a vote of 72 delegates in favor, 18 against, and three abstentions after two delegates from Malta and four from Azerbaijan spoke against the report, according to a video of the proceedings posted by the Council of Europe.

The full text of the joint statement is here.

Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, is a journalist and press freedom advocate with over 20 years of experience in New York, Prague, Bratislava, and Tashkent. At CPJ, she has conducted several missions to countries in Europe and Central Asia, and advocated for greater press freedom and the release of jailed journalists at forums including the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, and the OSCE. Before joining CPJ in 2016, she was a journalist and covered issues including elections, politics, media, religion, and human rights with a focus on Central Asia, Russia, and Turkey. She also worked in communications for the United Nations Secretariat and the UNDP. Her op-eds, reports, and comments have appeared in CNN, the BBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, PBS, NBC, Voice of America, RFE/RL, Fergana, Eurasianet, and other outlets, and she authored the Uzbekistan chapter in a book on the study of social entrepreneurship. Follow her on LinkedIn.

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