John D. Weis, Director of Development and Outreach, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), today made case for ending impunity in the murder of journalists.
In a statement made available to News.Band, CPJ recalled that in October, Malta passed an important milestone in seeking justice for a slain journalist and ending impunity in her case.
A court in the country’s capital, Valletta, sentenced brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio to 40 years each for their role as hitmen in the 2017 assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia,
“Those convictions were the result of five years of advocacy by CPJ and our partners to ensure full justice for Caruana Galizia. Further legal proceedings are pending against the alleged mastermind of her assassination, Yorgen Fenech, as well as two men who allegedly supplied the bomb that killed the journalist”, CPJ stated.
“Demanding justice in wake of a journalist’s murder—for the sake of the family, for the journalist’s colleagues and friends, for free expression—is excruciatingly important and difficult work.
“Last year, CPJ and its partners helped secure convictions in the murders of at least 12 journalists. When nearly 80% of journalists’ murders remain unsolved, every conviction matters.
“We have yet to see justice, for example, in the brutal 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. But that hasn’t stopped us from fighting for accountability.
“CPJ recently joined the Knight Institute in filing a Freedom of Information Act request to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA, and the Public Interest Declassification Board seeking the immediate release of a U.S. intelligence report on Khashoggi’s killing.
“These journalists cannot pass into memory with their murders unsolved: CPJ will continue to demand accountability for every single slain journalist, and an end to impunity for the murder of journalists altogether.”
News.Band thanks CPJ for standing with world journalists in the effort and “for being a part of work that, with lengthy court procedures and government pushback, can take years to reach justice but is worth every effort.”
