Nearly after nine years that the country was shaken by the most gruesome murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, full justice remains unserved.  After so many investigations, inquiries, and a 55-day jury, the responsibility for this murder remains unshouldered, and it is evident that the State failed to deliver justice.  

First of all, this isn't about shedding any doubt on the work done by the judiciary, by the jury, or the prosecution. They have all done their job, to the best of their capabilities. We are blessed to live in a society where anyone is presumed innocent, unless a case is proven beyond any reasonable doubt, and that principle does not bend depending on whether we like the verdict or not.

However, unfortunately, much greater questions have come out of this jury than were answered. How did we reach this point? How did the State fail to secure the conviction of the person accused of commissioning this murder?

Throughout the trial, there was much that could have been said, but the Nationalist Party chose to allow the proceedings to unfold in complete serenity and without any form of comment or pressure. We did this deliberately, so that the jurors could reach their decision based solely on the evidence in front of them and nothing else, because we truly believe in the rule of law. However, now that the trial has come to its conclusion, we are duty bound to shed light on the very serious matters that have emerged from the process. It is our duty.

The investigation itself was surrounded by serious questions from the very start. A senior officer involved in it had to be removed following a court decision over a conflict of interest, and his investigative work then had to be re-examined from scratch. Over the course of the trial, further issues came to light, like an important piece of electronic equipment that was never seized, allegations of attempts to influence the investigation, suspicion that information was leaked, evidence that was never collected, and investigative leads that may not have been pursued in time.

How much did these ill-decisions cost the truth, because of how close politics and certain institutions have been together? How much evidence may have been lost along the way to protect certain individuals? How different would the prosecution's position have been today if, from the very first day, the institutions of this country were indeed completely independent and free from political pressure?

Let's not forget that we already have the verdict of a Public Inquiry, that had said in no uncertain terms that the highest levels of government were responsible for creating and nurturing a culture of impunity that has led to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The State itself was found responsible for the environment that favoured the commission of the crime, and five years on, the Inquiry's recommendations still have not been implemented.

When institutions are weakened, evidence can be lost. When politics sits too close to the police, public trust erodes. When power, business and the State become entangled, conflicts of interest follow almost inevitably. These failures, allowed to accumulate over the years, are exactly what we are seeing so manifestly today.

The political question on everyone's lips is whether the State did its job from the very first day of this investigation, and that is a question this verdict simply does not answer.

Daphne's chapter is far from closed, and it will not close until her family has the full truth. It will not close until everyone who bore criminal responsibility for her murder faces justice. It will not close until we know whether failures, conflicts of interest or political interference weakened the investigation along the way. And it will not close until we rebuild institutions that are genuinely strong and genuinely independent.

Marilena Gauci is Nationalist Party spokesperson for the film industry