(19 Oct 2017) The Maltese authorities faced mounting pressure on Thursday to ensure an independent investigation into the slaying of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was known for her fearless reporting into corruption in the small Mediterranean island nation.
The investigation is being led by the Maltese Police and assisted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Scotland Yard, Europol and Dutch forensic experts.
Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar said "collecting of evidence may take weeks."
The 53-year-old slain journalist's three grown sons called on the Maltese prime minister to resign, saying Joseph Muscat should take political responsibility for failing to uphold Malta's fundamental freedoms by not rooting out corruption.
And a group of UN human rights experts demanded that the government of Malta "honour its commitment to a prompt, independent investigation" into her assassination on Monday in a powerful car bomb.
Muscat, in Brussels for a European Union leaders' summit, did not respond directly to the family's call for his resignation, but he denied their allegations that Malta is a mafia state.
Muscat has denounced the assassination and has proposed a reward to find her killers.
Caruana Galizia was one of Muscat's harshest critics, revealing connections from his wife and members of his government to shell companies in Panama. The Muscats have denied the allegations.
Caruana Galizia was also strong in her criticism of the opposition.
A group representing journalists - the Institute of Maltese Journalists - has filed a court case seeking to ensure source confidentiality on all data that is lifted from Caruana Galizia's computers and mobile phones during the investigation.
Investigators, meanwhile, were looking at similarities with other car bombings in Malta over the last two years - six in all including Caruana Galizia's. None have been solved.
Former police commissioner John Rizzo told the Malta Independent that it appears that mobile detonated explosives were used in each of the six bombings since the start of 2016, which caused four deaths and two serious injuries.
The previous victims were all known to police, the paper said.
Investigators have not publicly identified which explosives were used in the journalist's murder.
Experts say any military grade explosives, like Semtex, are not available in Malta and would have had to be brought in from abroad.
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23 окт 2017
