Civil society NGO Repubblika has told Prime Minister Robert Abela that respecting the jury's verdict in Yorgen Fenech's trial does not mean it believes Malta's institutions worked as they should, accusing him of misrepresenting its reaction to the acquittal.

Repubblika accused Abela of misrepresenting its reaction to Yorgen Fenech's acquittal, saying its respect for the jury and those involved in the trial should not be interpreted as evidence that Malta's institutions worked as they should.

In a statement on Friday, Repubblika said Abela had cited its statements in Friday's emergency parliamentary debate, following Fenech's acquittal, as evidence that the country's institutions had functioned properly.

"That is not what we said. And it is not what we believe," the NGO said.

Repubblika said that after years in which Abela had ignored the organisation, refused to meet it and, in its words, "treated independent civil society with contempt," the Prime Minister had "suddenly discovered that Repubblika is an authority worth citing".

"We admit we took it as a compliment. We would welcome this change if he cited us honestly."

The NGO reiterated its respect for the prosecutors who presented what it described as an "extraordinarily difficult case," the investigators who worked to uncover the truth, the judge who presided over the trial and the constitutional authority of the jury and legal effect of its verdict.

"None of this changes our conviction, based on the evidence we heard, that Yorgen Fenech commissioned the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia," Repubblika said.

"A journalist was murdered because of her work. Those who carried out the murder have admitted their responsibility or been convicted. The man we remain convinced commissioned that murder has walked free. There is nothing here for the government to congratulate itself about," it said.

Repubblika said respecting prosecutors, investigators and the judiciary did not mean approving of the system in which they had been required to work.

It said the trial had exposed an investigation of "profoundly uneven quality" and disturbing relationships between political and economic power and people entrusted with enforcing the law.

The NGO said evidence had been heard concerning leaks and interference, failures in gathering and preserving evidence and conduct which raised questions about whether powerful people were protected when they should have been investigated.

"These problems did not emerge this week," it said.

Repubblika referred to the findings of the public inquiry into Caruana Galizia's assassination, which five years ago found the State responsible for creating a climate of impunity that facilitated her murder.

It said Abela had been Prime Minister throughout these five years but his government had still not implemented all the inquiry's recommendations.

Repubblika said it had repeatedly asked the Prime Minister to act and proposed using the Open Government process to implement the outstanding recommendations, but accused the government of abandoning that process and ignoring its appeals.

It also pointed towards calls for reforms from the European Commission, GRECO and OSCE/ODIHR, saying a number of reforms remained "delayed, weakened or ignored".

"If Robert Abela believes Repubblika's views are worth citing, here are some more he can cite," it said.

The NGO called on the government to implement all the public inquiry recommendations, accompanied by a published timetable and transparent monitoring, and to guarantee genuinely independent policing and prosecution protected from political interference and proximity to political and economic power.

It also called for investigations into matters exposed during the trial, including evidence of leaks, interference, failures to gather or preserve evidence and possible obstruction by public officials or police officers.

Repubblika said authorities should investigate and prosecute the corruption Caruana Galizia had been investigating, arguing that her assassination could not be separated from the corruption and political and business relationships she was exposing.

The organisation also called for effective anti-mafia and obstruction-of-justice laws, the completion of reforms aimed at protecting journalists and journalism, and the restoration of what it described as genuine dialogue with independent civil society.

Repubblika said Abela did not murder Caruana Galizia, conduct the investigation, prosecute Fenech or deliver the jury's verdict.

"But he is the Prime Minister who has had five years since a public inquiry told Malta what went wrong and what needed to change," it said.

"Every recommendation left gathering dust is his political responsibility. Every international warning ignored is his political responsibility. Every reform postponed is his political responsibility. And every further day these failures are allowed to persist adds to that responsibility."

Repubblika said that Malta will not emerge from this crisis by the Prime Minister congratulating himself, and that it requires leadership, humility and reform.

"The Prime Minister has finally decided to cite Repubblika. We hope he will now start listening to what we are actually saying," the group said.

Meanwhile, Repubblika also condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the statements made by Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, who suggested to journalists that it is unclear whether Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed because of her work as a journalist.

"This is not the opinion of a commentator. This is a statement by a Minister of the Government of Malta. We repudiate it and condemn it without reservation. The independent public inquiry established that all the evidence pointed to Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination being a direct consequence of her investigative work into corruption, abuse of power, and the links between politics and business," it said.

"A government minister cannot pretend these facts do not exist. We cannot begin to address the enormous problems facing our country while the Ministers responsible for addressing them deny that they exist," it said.

"This is omertà. This is complicity with the culture that protects organised crime. This is turning a blind eye to the truth - literally before our eyes. When a minister denies facts established by the State's own public inquiry into the assassination of a journalist, it is an outrage to democracy," it said.

Repubblika said that the government must withdraw them immediately and affirm without ambiguity what the Maltese State has already been compelled to acknowledge: Daphne Caruana Galizia was a journalist assassinated because of her work.