NGO Repubblika has written to the Labour Party to demand the expulsion of former leader Joseph Muscat from the PL.

In a letter addressed to the president Ramona Attard, the NGO said that the demand is being made following the publication of the report of the public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The letter was read out to the media outside the PL headquarters in Hamrun by Repubblika head Robert Aquilina, who later entered the PL HQ to present the letter in person.

The NGO said that the report concluded that the State is to be held responsible for the murder of the journalist in October 2017.

More specifically, the inquiry found that the Cabinet of Ministers led by Joseph Muscat are responsible for the creation of a culture of impunity that facilitated the assassination. The inquiry also found an inappropriate relationship between politicians, businessmen and criminals who had been the subject of Caruana Galizia’s writings.

The NGO said that the PL should shoulder its own responsibilities in this regard.

The first action the PL should take is to start procedures to expel Muscat from the party. Muscat, the NGO said, was personally responsible for the creation of a culture of impunity. It is only by doing that that the PL would denounce its past that led to the assassination of a mother, caused a trauma to the country and denigrated its reputation. What happened “because of Muscat” is unprecedented in the country’s history.

As the biggest party in Malta, the PL has the obligation to send a strong message to the country that behaviour such as that of Muscat is never repeated.

The future of the country depends on the decisions that are to be taken in the coming days. The country cannot move forward if ministers, MPs, officials and persons of trust who were identified in the inquiry as contributing to the impunity of criminals are still in their place, the NGO contended.

These persons should not have a place in politics, and they should shoulder their responsibilities, the NGO said.

The PL should withdraw its blessing and support to these people, and the PL should not accept them as candidates in the coming election.

These people betrayed the trust of the voters, and they should not be allowed to remain active in politics, the NGO said.

The country needs political parties who practise democracy and encourage integrity, honest, accountability, respect to the rule of law and responsibility. Taking a leaf out of Labour’s electoral slogan “Malta Taghna Lkoll”, the NGO said that the country should really belong to all of us, and not belong to the web of corrupt politicians and businessmen, and criminals and murderers.

Repubblika letter to PL