It is possibly the last thing that a newspaper would want to report: the death of a journalist/blogger who was considered by many as one of the best in this country.
The cruel, brutal murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia close to her house in Bidnija yesterday afternoon is shocking not just for its ruthlessness, or for the manner in which it snuffed out the life of a wife and mother of three. It is also shocking because it is, above all, an assault on free speech in this country.
This was a terror attack.
That the hit had to happen a day after the anniversary of the burning of the Times of Malta building in Valletta on October 15, 1979, by Socialist thugs makes the event ever more poignant.
Like the burning of this newspaper, over which no one has been arraigned in almost four decades, yesterday’s murder was an assault on journalists and on a fundamental right: press freedom.
It was a repeat of 1979. Not that journalists have not been manhandled or beaten since but no one ever resorted to murder. That changes things radically.
Free speech is under threat. It is another attempt – futile, surely – to gag the press and all those who believe in the rule of law and in true democracy.
It is another Black Monday.
Ms Caruana Galizia, who saw her beginnings as a columnist in The Sunday Times of Malta when both democracy and the rule of law were threatened, grew in stature over the years to the point that her column, Running Commentary, became a major source of information to many people in this country, even those who disagreed with her.
She was simultaneously admired, loathed and feared. She had been the target of threats, had had her home vandalised and even drove a rented car, possibly to avoid exactly what happened yesterday. But she persevered, defying her critics and, clearly, her enemies.
The Prime Minister described the murder as an assault on freedom of expression and instructed the police and the security services, even with the assistance of foreign counterparts, to do their utmost to bring the culprits to book.
At this early stage of the investigations nothing can be discounted. However, by admitting that it was a “black day for freedom of expression”, the Prime Minister linked the murder to her active work as a journalist/blogger.
He acknowledged that she had targeted him and other people personally but said he could never justify what had happened. No one can justify murder, even less the murder of someone who has unearthed many scandals in this country, one of the more recent being the Panama scandal involving people in the highest echelons of the administration.
She had received in return the wrath of the whole Labour administration and stood up to it boldly, admiringly, heroically. She was branded as a public enemy and the election was called a year early after she alleged that the Prime Minister’s wife owned the elusive Panama company Egrant.
The focus now turns on the administration, which must prove its worth, ensure that justice is done and that freedom of expression remains sacrosanct not just in the law books but in practice.
In recent years, the use of car bombs has been on the rise. They are believed to be the work of warring crime clans but in Bidnija politics met crime and the result is a tragedy for the whole country.
Car bombs are thorough, reckless weapons, used by people we generally brand as cowards. But cowards they are not. They are desperate people with something to lose and this country must now ensure they lose it all.
Malta cannot afford to ever go down this route of terror by people who feel the heat from the media.
We cannot be satisfied with apprehending the individual/s who planted the bomb. We must know who gave the order and why. And then, a thorough investigation into what the murderer was accused of by Ms Caruana Galizia.
We must continue her work.