Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia née Vella  was a Maltese journalist and blogger. She was known for her work as an investigative journalist and revealing controversial sensitive information. She was murdered in a car bomb attack in October 2017.

Caruana Galizia was born as Daphne Vella on 26 August 1964 in Sliema, to Michael Alfred Vella and Rose Marie Vella née Mamo.

She studied at St. Dorothy's convent in Mdina and St. Aloysius' College in Birkirkara, before attending the University of Malta and graduating BA (Hons.) in archaeology in 1997.

She married Peter Caruana Galizia in 1985 and they had three sons:

• Matthew Mark John,
• Andrew Michael Louis and
• Paul Anthony Edward.

 She lived in Bidnija, a hamlet in the limits of Mosta.

Caruana Galizia began to work as a journalist in 1987.

In the early 1990s, she was a regular columnist with The Sunday Times of Malta and an associate editor of The Malta Independent. She remained a columnist with The Malta Independent and The Malta Independent on Sunday, and was the editor of the Taste & Flair magazine.

 She maintained a blog entitled Running Commentary, which included investigative reporting and commentary on a number of people, some of which would be labelled as personal attacks. The blog was one of the most popular websites in Malta.

Caruana Galizia's controversial blog resulted in several legal battles. In 2010, she criticized Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera in her blog, who then opened a libel and defamation case against her.[4] The case was withdrawn in November 2011.

She was arrested on 8 March 2013 for breaking the political silence on the day before the 2013 general election, after she posted videos mocking then-Leader of the Opposition Joseph Muscat. She was questioned by police before being released after a few hours.

In 2016, Caruana Galizia was the first to break news of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri's involvement in the Panama Papers. She was subsequently named by Politico as one of "28 people who are shaping, shaking and stirring Europe."

 Politico described her as a "one-woman WikiLeaks, crusading against untransparency and corruption in Malta."[8]

In 2017, she alleged that Egrant, another Panama company, was owned by Michelle Muscat, the wife of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. These allegations resulted in Muscat calling the June 2017 general elections, which saw Muscat's Labour Party remaining in government. After the elections, Caruana Galizia was also a harsh critic of the new Nationalist opposition leader Adrian Delia.

Death

Caruana Galizia was murdered by a car bomb explosion in her rented Peugeot 108 close to her home in Bidnija on 16 October 2017. The large explosion left the vehicle scattered in several pieces across nearby fields. She was found by her son Matthew, after he heard a blast from their home. Caruana Galizia had reportedly filed a police report saying that she was being threatened about two weeks before her death. The perpetrator is unknown.

The murder was condemned by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who stated that he "will not rest before justice is done" despite her criticism of him. President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and a number of politicians also expressed their condolences or condemned the murder.

Subjects related

• Palazzo Nasciaro; questioned how British millionaire Paul Golding got rich and acquired a property in Naxxar.
• Villa Guardamangia; after publishing articles about the conservation of the former home of Queen Elizabeth II, she was described by the Daily Telegraph as a leading commentator in Malta.

https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/