President George Vella and First Lady Miriam Vella on Monday paid tribute to Daphne Caruana Galizia at the site of her assassination near her family home in Bidnija.

The President laid a flower crown at the site of Caruana Galizia’s assassination as a show of sorrow and a condemnation of the “obscene act” which ended the journalist’s life.

The President’s Office said that the act was also part of fulfilling the recommendations of the public inquiry into Caruana Galizia’s death by reconciling with the journalist’s family so to start a process of healing from what the country went through.

The Caruana Galizia family welcome the President’s gesture as “the Maltese state’s recognition of Daphne’s memory and sacrifice and its acknowledgement that it must bear responsibility for her assassination and for its failure to prevent real and immediate risks to her life.”

A public inquiry into the journalist’s murder found that the state must shoulder responsibility for creating and fostering a culture of impunity which ultimately allowed Caruana Galizia’s murder to happen.

“We share the President’s hope that the implementation of the public inquiry’s recommendations will begin to heal the national trauma of Daphne’s murder, and we hope that this will lead to the restoration of the rule of law in Malta, effective protection for journalists, and an end to impunity,” the family said.