Today's verdict is a deeply painful and disappointing outcome for all those who have spent nearly nine years demanding justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia, Occupy Justice said Wednesday.

The Court has reached its decision through the criminal process and according to the standard it was required to apply. But this verdict does not change the central and devastating fact: Daphne was assassinated, and Malta is still without full accountability for the person or people who ordered her murder, the group said.

"Our first thoughts are with Daphne's family. No family should have had to endure what they have been forced to navigate through over the past years: not only the loss of Daphne but years of delay, uncertainty, public attacks, and the continuing absence of full justice," Occupy Justice said.

For almost nine years, the protest memorial and the vigils have stood for one simple thing: Daphne must not be forgotten, and those responsible for her elimination must not be allowed to disappear into the shadows. That remains true today.

"The work does not end here. Malta still needs truth, accountability, protection for journalists, and institutions that act before corruption and impunity become irreversible. Daphne's reporting exposed what too many people preferred not to see. Justice for her must also mean taking seriously the country she insisted on defending through her investigations," the group said.

"We will not allow the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia to be normalised, forgotten or closed away as an inconvenient chapter. We will continue to remember, to speak up, and to demand accountability.

"Until the full chain of responsibility for Daphne's assassination has been established through lawful means, and until the institutional failures exposed by her murder are properly addressed, the fight for justice remains unfinished."