President of NGO Repubblika, Robert Aquilina said Saturday the Maltese institutions are still promoting impunity.

He said this during a press conference commemorate the fifth anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia. This press conference was held to launch the exhibition “Daphne Eroj Maltija” at Bieb il-Belt Valletta. Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bomb on 16 October, 2017.

Aquilina said that Caruana Galizia was aware of the risks of being a journalist but she did it anyway for the common good.

“The government still treats Daphne Caruana Galizia with hostility,” Aquilina said.

He said that there is a complete contrast between what is happening in Malta and in the European Parliament, especially because in the coming days there is going to be a discussion in the European Parliament about impunity in Malta.

He called out the government for its inaction after the murder of Caruana Galizia and its lack of initiative to commemorate the fifth anniversary of her death.

“The government’s intention is to make us forget about her, and worse than this, it is passing on the message that the death of a Maltese journalist is not important,” he said.

Furthermore, he said that the recommendations of the public inquiry into the death of Caruana Galizia were completely ignored.

He said that even when anti-mafia legislation was recommended to the government by Repubblika and then the Opposition, this was also ignored.

When referring to the media reform, he said that there has been no form of public consultation and not even journalists themselves were consulted.

“In the last five years Daphne’s family and civil society have made a great effort to keep the memory of Daphne Caruana Galizia alive and the stories that she revealed.”

Moving forward, Aquilina highlighted two goals: To achieve justice against corruption and any other form of abuse and to have institutions work with integrity.

“We are far from seeing this because institutions like the Police force, are institutions of impunity,” he said.