Well-known investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bombing on Oct. 16, 2017 shortly after leaving her home on the country’s main island. Caruana Galizia, 53, was a blogger and newspaper columnist who wrote extensively about corruption in the European Union’s smallest member state. Most recently, she had participated in the Panama Papers investigation, publishing alleged links between Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his wife and hidden offshore bank accounts. Those allegations led to early elections, which Muscat’s Labour Party won this past June.
Described by Politico magazine as a “one-woman WikiLeaks, crusading against untransparency and corruption in Malta”, Caruana Galizia’s tenacious writing won her enemies in the country’s political and business sectors. She was targeted in numerous criminal and civil proceedings over the course of her career, notably for libel.