Former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi warned that Malta cannot "sweep under the carpet" what the country has gone through in the days surrounding Yorgen Fenech's acquittal over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Writing on Facebook on Sunday, four days after a jury cleared Fenech of complicity and conspiracy in Caruana Galizia's assassination, Gonzi said the events before, during and after the trial had consequences for the entire country, regardless of political allegiance.

"The facts that emerged during the trial should shock everyone," Gonzi said, arguing that the erosion of some of Malta's most important institutions had now been exposed.

He warned that unless action was taken, the damage to Malta's credibility would be "very difficult" to repair.

Gonzi also criticised the way the Caruana Galizia family had been treated since the journalist was killed in a car bomb in October 2017.

"Malta is continuing to put the Caruana Galizia family through one ordeal after another," he said.

He argued that, to date, the authorities had failed to provide the family with the minimum they deserved: justice for what he described as Daphne Caruana Galizia's "premeditated assassination".

"Instead, we are witnessing further insults, even coming from the authorities themselves and people close to them," Gonzi wrote.

He questioned why those who may have been behind the assassination had not been held to account.

Gonzi then turned his attention to the recommendations of the public inquiry into Caruana Galizia's assassination, which concluded its work on July 29, 2021.

Five years and one month later, he said, the recommendations contained in the inquiry report were still waiting for the government to act on them.

"What is holding them back?" Gonzi asked.

He called for the government to implement the reforms identified by the inquiry and change whatever needed to be changed.

"Do it," he urged. "If not out of respect for the Caruana Galizia family, at least out of respect for our country, which does not deserve to go through another trauma like this."

Gonzi's comments come as Malta continues to grapple with the fallout from Fenech's acquittal. The businessman was cleared by a jury of complicity in the murder of Caruana Galizia and of conspiracy to commit the assassination.

Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb near her home in Bidnija on October 16, 2017. Her murder triggered a major political crisis and international scrutiny of Malta's institutions and rule of law.

The public inquiry into her assassination concluded that the Maltese state had to shoulder responsibility for creating an environment in which those who sought to eliminate her could operate with impunity.