On the two-year anniversary of the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the International Press Institute (IPI), together with Reporter Ohne Grenzen (Reporters Without Borders Austria) and Presseclub Concordia, today held a vigil outside the Maltese Embassy in Vienna to demand justice for her killing.

The event was one of several vigils taking place in capital cities across Europe and saw a crowd bearing banners gather to pay tribute to Caruana Galizia and call for an end to impunity for her assassination.

Speaking outside the embassy, IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen said the organization and its partners were “deeply disappointed” at the lack of progress made by the Maltese authorities in brining those responsible for ordering the murder to justice.

On October 16, 2017, Caruana Galizia, one of Malta’s best-known investigative journalists, was killed in a car bomb attack close to her home in Bidnija, sending shock waves around Europe and leading to international condemnation.

However, two years after the brutal killing, investigations have stalled, three men accused of planting the explosive device have still not gone on trial, and Maltese authorities have failed to identify the person who ordered the hit, Griffen said.

“Two years later, Malta has made almost no progress in finding those who were ultimately responsible for killing Daphne,” he said. “It is inexcusable that this type of impunity exists within Malta, and within the European Union.”

IPI representatives also joined a vigil in Brussels co-organized with other leading press freedom groups. Similar events are taking place in Berlin and London.

Shortly after the Vienna vigil, a delegation led by IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi and comprising representatives of RSF Austria and Presseclub Concordia personally delivered a letter to Maltese Ambassador Natasha Meli Daudey expressing great concern over the lack of progress in the case.

While the delegation welcomed the long-overdue decision by the Maltese government to establish a public enquiry into the murder, it noted that this move “does not replace the need to prosecute those responsible for this crime and prevent impunity”.

The letter urged the government to ensure “that the inquiry is fully impartial and those who ordered the assassination of the journalist are arrested and brought to justice, all libel cases against Daphne Caruana Galizia and her family are dropped, and the harassment of her family and all those seeking justice is immediately stopped”. (Read the full letter).

Today’s event come as Pieter Omtzigt, a special rapporteur for the Council of Europe assigned to monitor the case, said today that he was concerned Maltese authorities may have turned down evidence that could lead to those who commissioned the killing.

Paying tribute to Caruana Galizia at the vigil, Griffen also read an excerpt from a letter sent to IPI by her niece, Amy Mallia, who recalled that on the day of her aunt’s murder she had been asked in school what she wanted to be in the future.

“Without hesitation I answered I would like to be a journalist like my aunt, only to go home a few hours after a few hours later to find out she had been murdered”, Mallia wrote. “My answer remains the same. Daphne was, and still is, a role model for me. She lived by what she believed in and she never gave in.

“Justice for Daphne will not come easily. But to those who ordered Daphne’s assassination, we say this: you will not get away with what you did, no matter what money, power or position you hold, you cannot escape the truth and you cannot erase Daphne’s memory.”