Malta PM accused of 'blackmail' over slain reporter

Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in 2017 after accusing top government figures, including Muscat and his wife, of involvement in corruption schemes.

The Egrant Inquiry "exonerated me and my family" Muscat said, and its findings had been "made public", he added.

But in fact, the enquiry, by an independent magistrate, did not exonerate anybody because its findings had no juridical status.

The 1,500-page report and its supporting documents were also never made public, even though Malta's attorney general did disclose excerpts which showed Muscat in a good light.

And Muscat's offer amounted to "blackmail", Caruana Galizia's family said in a statement the same day.

"We will not concede to extortion by our public servants. Our position on not accepting blackmail will never change," the family said.

Muscat wrote to the Council of Europe in response to an appeal by its human rights commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic, earlier this month, to leave the slain journalist's family in peace.

There were still some 30 other active civil defamation claims against her family, Mijatovic noted.

The situation meant "her heirs could be expected to reveal information on her journalistic work and sources" in order to escape damages, he said.

It also "put unwarranted psychological and financial pressure" on her bereaved sons and husband, he added.

"The current legal provisions, which allow the passing of defamation cases to heirs ... have a chilling effect on investigative journalism," he also said.

"Continuing these claims ... raises questions regarding the Maltese authorities' commitment to finding and bringing the masterminds of this horrendous crime to justice," Mijatovic said.

Muscat, in Thursday's reply, also refused to repeal the law that permits posthumous lawsuits or to help quash the other 30 open cases.

He did it on grounds that people who had been defamed had a right to clear their names even if their accuser was dead.

"The government cannot interfere in ... civil actions started by third parties and private citizens against the heirs of a deceased journalist who have accepted the inheritance [of that journalist's estate]", Muscat said.

Three men have been charged with planting and detonating the bomb which killed Caruana Galizia, but almost two years after her assassination, which shocked Europe, Maltese authorities appear to be no closer to saying who ordered it.

And the slow pace shows there is no political will in Valetta to solve the crime, her son, Matthew Caruana Galizia, told EUobserver in July.

Noting that Slovak police had managed to solve a similar case in under a year, "this shows that where there is political will then the authorities are able to do this," he said.

"If they could do it in Slovakia, there's no reason why they cannot do the same in Malta," he added.