PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE ASSASSINATION OF MALTESE INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST DAPHNE CARUANA GALIZIA (14 October 2018)

That this House again condemns the assassination of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed by a car bomb one year ago on 16 October 2017; notes that a full year on there has still not been justice for her murder; commends her courageous investigative reporting, including her work on the Panama Papers; is concerned by the defamation cases that continue against her posthumously, including lawsuits filed by senior government officials; expresses serious concern over the alarming trend that has followed of an increase in violence and threats of violence against journalists across Europe, including the murders of Ján Kuciak in Slovakia on 21 February 2018 and Viktoria Marinova in Bulgaria on 6 October 2018; further notes that Europe, the region that has traditionally respected press freedom the most, deteriorated the most in Reporters Without Borders' 2018 World Press Freedom Index, with Malta experiencing the sharpest decline in ranking, down 18 places to 65th out of 180 countries; calls for increased international oversight of the investigation, such as through the mandate of the Special Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia; and supports the call by the Caruana Galizia family to establish a public inquiry into whether the murder could have been prevented.

Sponsored by:
Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat)