The Caruana Galizia family has expressed its dismay that what it said was a “private letter” sent to Home Minister Michael Farrugia was made public by the minister.
“This was a private letter from the widower and sons of an assassination victim to their country’s minister who is responsible for the police and, ultimately, the assassination investigation,” the Caruana Galizia family said.
In the letter, the Caruana Galizia family accused Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia of harming the ongoing murder investigations by divulging confidential information publicly. Minister Farrugia rejected the accusation, saying that information revealed was already in the public domain.
In today’s statement, the Caruana Galizia family said “it is inappropriate and irregular that the Maltese government publishes a private letter from citizens to the Minister responsible for their security, more so to send it to every media outlet in the country with an accompanying media statement. And it is inappropriate and irregular for the same Minister Michael Farrugia to ‘Tweet’ that statement and to have the Prime Minister re-Tweet it.
“We have responded in writing to Minister Michael Farrugia’s actions. As the widower and orphaned sons of an assassination victim killed on his watch, as private citizens, we would have preferred to deal privately with the concerns we have raised. As we now cannot be sure Minister Michael Farrugia will respect protocol and dignity and obligations of his office and not release our latest letter to him to the media, we have been constrained to do so ourselves, accompanied by our own statement.”
In a statement, the Index on Censorship condemned the minister’s actions. “This is a deeply discouraging development,” said Joy Hyvarinen, head of advocacy at Index on Censorship. “The Maltese authorities should be focusing on investigating the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia, rather than engaging in a public fight with the grieving family.”
The letter sent to Minister Farrugia is in this link.