The Malta Independent on Sunday
Caruana Galizia lawyers see hope for better dialogue after AG’s ‘mischaracterisations’ go unrepeated
● Bhatt Murphy sees AG ‘actively considering’ request for public inquiry
The lawyers of the Caruana Galizia family are seeing a ray of hope for some kind of dialogue with the government as they continue to press for a full public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
This comes after Attorney General Peter Grech on Friday dropped the somewhat offensive language he had used in his earlier interim response to the request.
On 31 August, Grech had written in his interim reply to the family’s British legal counsel, Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, that, “We are disappointed though that an Opinion by such an esteemed chambers contains a number of unsubstantiated claims, baseless innuendo, and incorrect information. It is regrettable.”
But in his second reply on Friday, Grech, who, instead of declaring his stance on the prospect of such an inquiry answered with a number of other questions for the solicitors, seems to have dropped the offensive tone.
This was recognised by Bhatt Murphy in their counter reply on Friday. The British civil liberties specialist solicitors said in a statement: “For the avoidance of any doubt, the characterisation of our Opinion dated 9 August in your letter dated 31 August is not accepted. It is noted that this mischaracterisation is not repeated in your October letter, which provides a better basis for the constructive dialogue that is necessary if the truth of this tragedy is to be told.”
His letter also seems to show that the AG’s office is actively considering a public inquiry, a marked improvement from the previous position, according to Bhatt Murphy, which wrote on Friday, “It is important that the terms of your October [Friday’s] letter indicate that active consideration is being given to their call for a public inquiry. It appeared from Prime Minister Muscat’s interview with the BBC on 22 September that he had closed his mind to this prospect.
“The Caruana Galizia family remains firmly of the view that a public inquiry is necessary to ensure that the whole truth emerges surrounding the circumstances of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination.”
The firm said that it will be giving a considered reply to the AG’s correspondence once the family has marked the anniversary of Mrs Caruana Galizia’s assassination.
In the meantime, Bhatt Murphy’s Tony Murphy – part of the international team of lawyers acting for the family – will be giving evidence with others regarding the assassination to a hearing of the Council of Europe’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Strasbourg regarding the assassination tomorrow at 1pm. The hearing will be held in public and live streamed by the Committee.