Police in Malta have arrested 10 suspects over the murder of\u00a0Daphne Caruana Galizia, the country\u2019s prime minister has said, nearly two months after the anti-corruption journalist was killed by a powerful car bomb.<\/p>\n
Joseph Muscat told a press conference that eight people \u2013 all Maltese nationals, most with criminal records \u2013 had been detained in early-morning raids in three different parts of the island. He tweeted later that two more suspects were also in custody.<\/p>\n
Muscat said there was a \u201creasonable suspicion\u201d the suspects were involved in the killing of Caruana Galizia, whose popular blog attacked high-level political corruption, shady business dealings and organised crime on the island.<\/p>\n
The joint police and military operation was the first breakthrough for the Maltese investigation, which has been helped by experts from the FBI, Europol and the Finnish and Dutch security services. Police now have 48 hours to interrogate the suspects and either charge or release them.<\/p>\n
Muscat, who was a frequent target of Caruana Galizia\u2019s blog reports along with others in his inner circle, said he could give no further details of the arrests, the suspects or the evidence against them, but offered his \u201cpersonal commitment\u201d that those responsible for the killing would be found.<\/p>\n
Caruana Galizia\u2019s son Matthew, who is also a reporter, told the Guardian his family were \u201cin the dark\u201d about the arrests and had been given no further information beyond a phone call from a magistrate\u2019s office after the arrests were made public.<\/p>\n
At a separate event, the island\u2019s police commissioner, Lawrence Cutajar, refused to take any questions about the arrests, which have been called one of the biggest police operations in Maltese history.<\/p>\n
They took place in Marsa, where other car bombings have occurred, as well as Zebbug, a village in central\u00a0Malta, and in the northern town of St Paul\u2019s Bay. A section of Lighters Wharf in the port area of Marsa was still sealed off later on Monday as military personnel and police used sniffer dogs to search buildings.<\/p>\n
The murder on 16 October sent shockwaves through the island and alarmed the EU, which was already concerned about the rule of law on Malta. The bloc\u2019s smallest member state has often been branded a haven for dubious foreign money.<\/p>\n
Last week, MEPs visiting Malta on a fact-finding mission said they had arrived \u201cseriously concerned\u201d about the rule of law and\u00a0were leaving \u201ceven more worried\u201d. They said an apparent reluctance to investigate and prosecute major cases had created a \u201cperception of impunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
The journalist\u2019s family are\u00a0taking legal action\u00a0against the island\u2019s police, saying the investigation into the killing cannot be impartial and independent since Caruana Galizia wrote critical articles about both the senior officer now running it, Silvio Valletta, and his wife, a top government minister.<\/p>\n
The family have alleged that her murder was a \u201ctargeted killing\u201d of a journalist whose work focused on uncovering \u201ccorruption, criminality, conflicts of interest and ethical failures in decision-making\u201d by politicians and their associates.<\/p>\n
The family have raised other concerns about the investigation, which they say appears to be focusing only on forensic evidence rather than examining financial transactions that could uncover vital evidence. They also suggest leaks from within the police could intimidate potential informants.<\/p>\n
The most significant investigations by the murdered journalist stemmed from the\u00a0Panama Papers, a leak of documents from the archives of the offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca. Malta\u2019s government is offering a \u20ac1m reward for information relating to the killing.<\/p>\n
A top Italian prosecutor, Carmelo Zuccaro, has said he believes the murder could be linked to an investigation he is leading into a fuel-smuggling operation spanning Libya, Malta and Italy and involving organised crime groups in Sicily. Caruana Galizia wrote about some of those linked to the inquiry.<\/p>\n
Antonio Di Pietro, an Italian politician and judge who was a prosecutor in Italy\u2019s anti-corruption Mani Pulite corruption trials in the 1990s, said on Monday that Caruana Galizia\u2019s murder had all the hallmarks of a mafia-style killing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was professional and a classic mafia-style homicide,\u201d Di Pietro\u00a0told the Times of Malta. \u201cThe mafia\u2019s style is intimidation. The target was not only poor Caruana Galizia \u2026 but all those around her because it was a clear warning: be careful or you\u2019ll suffer the same fate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Responding to\u00a0a public letter\u00a0from eight of the world\u2019s largest media organisations including the New York Times, BBC and the Guardian, the first vice-president of the EU commission, Frans Timmermans, last month issued a strong warning to Malta.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe eyes of\u00a0Europe\u00a0are on the Maltese authorities,\u201d Timmermans said. \u201cWe want those directly and indirectly responsible for this horrible murder to be brought to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: Guardian UK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police in Malta have arrested 10 suspects over the murder of\u00a0Daphne Caruana Galizia, the country\u2019s prime minister has said, nearly two months after the anti-corruption journalist was killed by a powerful car bomb. Joseph Muscat told a press conference that eight people \u2013 all Maltese nationals, most with criminal records \u2013 had been detained in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[3097,14473,2387],"yoast_head":"\n